Ravi Rampaul, the West Indies seamer, kept up his strong form with a three-wicket haul that gave the home team the advantage against Pakistan in St Kitts. Rampaul collected seven wickets in the first Test and by stumps on the opening day of the second Test, he had 3 for 40 and had given West Indies an encouraging start as they aim to take the series 2-0.
Rampaul picked up his three wickets early and had Pakistan at 24 for 3, although by the close of play the visitors had steadied somewhat at 180 for 6. It was the perfect start for West Indies after Pakistan's captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, won the toss and chose to bat at Warner Park, a ground at which teams have scored 500-plus in the first innings of both its previous Tests.
"The pitch here is usually ideal for the batsmen," Rampaul said. "In past matches it has always been a batting track, but it had in some extra moisture in the morning and I was able to get the ball to bounce and carry. I knew I had to use whatever little advantage we had and I decided to exploit it and I got the result we were looking for as a team.
"It was the ideal start. We knew from the start it was going to be a good pitch for batting but in the back of my mind I was thinking maybe we could get them for something in the region of 250."
West Indies will begin the second day searching for the remaining four wickets to keep on top of Pakistan, and Rampaul will be hoping for his first five-wicket haul in a Test match.
"We are on our way to that score (less than 250) and we believe we could be able to finish off the job on Saturday," Rampaul said. "We have confidence and we are playing good cricket as a team. I'm very happy with the way I'm bowling. Everything felt right and I will be looking to finish off the work tomorrow."