ASSISTANT Coach Nikita Miller says the willingness to learn and adapt was pivotal to the West Indies cricket team matching hosts Pakistan punch for punch on dry, dusty surfaces in Multan last month.

After disappointingly losing the first Test by 127 runs, the Andre Coley-coached Caribbean side stunned Pakistan by inflicting a 120-run defeat in the second match to level the series 1-1. Both matches were held at Multan Cricket Stadium.

The biggest hero for the visitors was 32-year-old left-arm finger spinner Jomel Warrican, who claimed 19 wickets in the two matches. He ended the series with a remarkable average of exactly nine runs per wicket.

In the context of a low-scoring series, Warrican was also outstanding with the bat in the West Indies lower order.

“The whole coaching unit and the team analyst had a lot of conversations around how we needed to approach the series. We knew the pitch [in Multan] was going to take spin, but not so much,” Miller, 42, told the Jamaica Observer.

“The analysis was critical in terms of us deciding the pace we needed to bowl on that pitch. We didn’t execute as well as we should [have] in the first innings but when we saw how Pakistan [spinners] bowled, we revisited the conversations. The bowling unit made the adjustment and we started to see the results. The bowlers were willing to listen and take on board the information the coaches were sharing, and that also played a role in them being effective,” he said.

Man of the Series Warrican took 3-69 and 7-32 in the first Test loss and was just as effective in the second match, grabbing 4-43 and 5-27.

The next-best West Indies bowler in the series was left-arm finger spinner Gudakesh Motie, who finished with seven wickets. Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair had five wickets while pacers Jayden Seales and Kemar Roach, who played one match each, captured early wickets even though neither was prolific.

Not surprisingly, the Pakistan spinners were also dominant. Left-armer Noman Ali took 16 wickets in the series, closely followed by off-spinner Sajid Khan (15). Wrist spinner Abrar Ahmed took seven.

Pakistan employed a similar tactic of setting dry, spin-friendly surfaces against visiting England late last year. And that worked to near perfection as they recovered from a loss in the first Test to win the three-match series 2-1.

Against the West Indies, however, it backfired monumentally in that second Test. The win was the first for a West Indies team away to Pakistan since 1990.

Miller argued that his side outdid the hosts with ball and bat.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the magnitude of this drawn series coming out of Pakistan — a place where historically we haven’t done so well. Going into the series, when you compared our spin bowling unit to their unit, people would lean more toward theirs because they are used to their conditions and they have done it to other teams.

“But we attacked the stumps as much as possible, for the most part. Warrican was the top guy, he led by example and they bowled well in partnerships as well… the spin bowlers went into the series and out-bowled the Pakistan bowlers, in my opinion. Our fast bowlers Jayden and Roach, when called upon, played their part,” he said.

“The highlight for me was the way in which we [West Indies spin bowlers] changed our pace when we needed to. We slowed it up or pushed it through a little bit, and we kept them on the front foot more than the Pakistan bowlers brought our batsmen on the front foot. The cricketing world has always said West Indians don’t play spin well and all the rest of it so, in my mind, to out-bat them is very satisfying,” the West Indies assistant coach added.

A wily, slow, left-arm finger spinner, Miller had a fantastic first class career between 2005 and 2019. The Jamaican claimed 538 wickets in 100 matches at an average of 16.31. Miller played one Test, 50 One-Day Internationals, and nine Twenty20 matches for the West Indies.

Miller said Warrican’s strong work ethic contributed significantly to his development as a spinner.

“It’s easy to work with him because he is one who is always willing and ready to learn. I’ve been watching him in first class cricket and he has improved and has grown into understanding his game. He understands his game and what he is good at… it’s good to see that he has blossomed as a Test spinner, and hopefully he can get better and win us even more games,” he said.

Warrican, born in St Vincent, has a record of 73 wickets in 19 Tests at 27.56.

— Sanjay Myers