June 8, 2005	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 30, 1426

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KINGSTON (Jamaica), June 7: Danish Kaneria ended with five wickets in an innings for the 11th time in Tests and lanky paceman Shabbir Ahmed grabbed four wickets as Pakistan completed a 136-run victory in the second and final Test against West Indies on Tuesday to record their first Test win in the Caribbean since 1988.

Victory earned Pakistan a 1-1 draw in the series, after West Indies, who were beaten 2-0 at home by South Africa in their most recent Test series, and then lost eight consecutive One-day Internationals to the Proteas and Pakistan, won the first Test at Bridgetown by 276 runs.

West Indies defied Pakistan for 12.4 overs in close to an hour on the last day before they were dismissed for a modest 143 to cap another dreadful second innings batting performance.

“The boys really worked hard, and all credit must go them for us winning this game because it’s been 11 months of continuous cricket,” Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq said after the match.

“I think it was a great effort to have come back from defeat in the first Test.

“It was a close match, but I think the difference was the bowling of Danish in the second innings. He bowled tremendously well, and it was never going to be easy batting on this pitch on the fourth and fifth day.”

Kaneria took five wickets for 46 runs from 20 overs and was the surprising choice for Man-of-the-Match.

Shabbir supported Kaneria with four wickets for 55 runs from 18.5 overs.

“I want to thank God Almighty for helping me to come back after I did not bowl too well in the first Test in Barbados,” Kaneria said.

“I bowled a little quicker in this match because the pitch was giving me a lot of assistance, different to Barbados, where the turn was slow and the pitch was good for the batsmen.”

West Indies had resumed from their overnight position of 114 for six, and the overnight pair of Courtney Browne and Daren Powell put up a little resistance.

In the eighth over of the day however, Powell was caught at silly mid-off for 12 to give Kaneria his fifth wicket, and it did not take too long following his departure for the end to come.

Shabbir hastened it when he had Browne and Reon King caught behind for 10 and four respectively, and ended the match when Tino Best was caught at mid-off for four in the space of 15 balls.

“Credit must be given to Pakistan,” West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul conceded.

“They played very well to come-from-behind, and win this game. The pitch always had a little bit in it for the bowlers, and they put the ball in the right areas, and that helped them to come out on top.”

West Indies had the satisfaction of batting kingpin Brian Lara being named Man-of-the-Series for his hundreds in each of the two Tests.

“It was a good home season for me, I scored four hundreds in five matches, but I did not do anything in the second innings of this Test match when it was most needed,” Lara said.

On Monday, Kaneria captured the prized scalps of Lara and Chanderpaul as West Indies slumped to 114 for six when bad light stopped play six overs early on an action-packed, rain-affected penultimate day.

Kaneria shut the door on West Indies with the wickets of Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lara and Chanderpaul in the space of nine balls in successive overs.

After a 2-1/4 hour break for bad light and rain, Kaneria had Sarwan hit wicket for eight when the batsman tried to turn an awkwardly bouncing delivery into the leg-side in the third over after the resumption.

In his next over, Kaneria removed Lara when the West Indies’ batting kingpin was caught down the leg-side for a five-ball duck.

Kaneria should have had Chanderpaul for a first-ball duck, when the left-handed batsman whipped a delivery hard into the mid-rift of short leg fielder Asim Kamal, who failed to grasp the sharp chance.

The players left the field for bad light a second time for about 15 minutes, but when play resumed, the leg-spin bowler did not have to wait too long to put Chanderpaul out of operation.

Chanderpaul was adjudged lbw for a three-ball duck pulling across the line of a flatter, faster delivery, but television replays seemed to suggest there should have been some element of doubt, since the ball appeared to strike him outside the line of off-stump.

West Indies were in tatters at 56 for four, but Smith spent close to an hour with fellow left-hander Wavell Hinds adding 38 for the fifth wicket before he failed to pick Kaneria’s googly and was caught behind for the top score of 49 that contained seven fours from 109 balls in close to 2-1/2 hours.

In fading light, Abdul Razzaq added the scalp of Wavell Hinds caught at second slip for 19 for good measure.

West Indies had an early setback when Chris Gayle was caught at third slip for 15 off Shabbir Ahmed fending a short, lifting delivery.

 

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