Johannesburg, Sept. 23: The Wanderers is also known as the "Bullring" for its intimidating atmosphere and steeply tiered stands. Even with a handful of spectators sprinkled around its spacious interior, the West Indies looked overawed by the surroundings as they crashed to a dismal 133 in less than 35 overs in their opening Group A match against Pakistan here on Wednesday.

Had it not been for the off-spinner Nikita Miller’s spirited career-best effort worth 51, the end would have come much earlier. The Caribbean side were tottering at 47/7 before Miller and Darren Sammy put their heads down to lead the repair work on the shambles of the innings.

Coming into the tournament, the Windies were touted as the weakest side, but there were hopes they would find it in them to lift their game.

Sadly that was not to be and though they in turn troubled the Pakistan top order in the 10 overs possible before the break, reducing the better-fancied side to 35/2.

Young left-arm seamer Mohammad Aamer took 3/24, Umar Gul matching him with 3/28 even as slow bowlers Saeed Ajmal (2/16) and skipper Shahid Afridi (1/39) mopped up behind them. Rana Naved rounded off the tally with the dismissal of opener Andre Fletcher.

Miller’s inning was preceded by some resistance from Devon Smith’s 18 and piecemeal efforts from skipper Floyd Reifer, Fletcher and David Bernard. Between them, Miller (51, 57b, 6x4, 1x6) and Sammy (25, 37b, 4x4) were at the crease for a shade past 10 overs, putting on 38 runs.

When Pakistan batted, Imran Nazir went too far across the line against Gavin Tonge to see his stumps disturbed before Tonge struck again to remove his fellow opener, Kamran Akmal, caught behind. The T20 world champions could well have been three down had Sammy at second slip hung on to a hot chance from Mohammad Yousuf, once again off Tonge.

Given the juice in the track, if the Windies had managed to post another 50-odd runs, it would have been a far stiffer test than it eventually was for Afridi’s side.

Scores: West Indies 133 in 34.3 overs (Miller 51, Sammy 25; Aamer 3/24, Gul 3/28, Ajmal 2/16) vs Pakistan