|
|
| November 14, 2006 | Tuesday | Shawwal 21, 1427 |
Defeat stares Windies in face as Yousuf misses double century
LAHORE, Nov 13: The West Indies brace themselves for an uphill battle to avoid defeat in the remaining two days of this first Test after Pakistan batted their way to an impregnable position on the third day here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.
The tourists closed the third day at 74 for three after beginning their second innings 279 runs in arrear. They still require a further 205 to force Pakistan bat again.
The hosts piled up a mammoth 485 in their first innings, which was based around a monumental 192 from Mohammad Yousuf who was again involved in a record stand for the second successive day.
But if the West Indies aspire to escape the inevitable, then Brian Lara has got to produce one of those big innings for which the legendary left-hander has been renowned over the years. The West Indian captain, currently batting on 28 with Fidel Edwards (5) keeping him company as the night watchman, remains the biggest obstacle in Pakistan’s way when play resumes on Tuesday.
Another cause for anxiety in Pakistan's case is the light factor. As was the case on the first two days, Monday's play was also curtailed with the number of overs lost now aggregating 44. Needless to say, the West Indies will gladly accept the nature coming to their aid during the remaining two days.
But cricket, like other sports, can be cruel at times and while the West Indies have found themselves in a state of bother due to their reckless batting in the first innings followed by equally poor catching, their woes have mounted by the damage inflicted upon them by umpire Asoka de Silva whose dubious rulings have sort of tilted the balance towards Pakistan.
The Sri Lankan official was again in the thick of controversy for the third day running when Ramnaresh Sarwan felt the brunt of another highly contentious decision from him. The ball from Umar Gul was clearly heading upwards as Sarwan played back to an inswinger and was adjudged leg before.
Until that moment of tragedy, Sarwan (23 off 36 balls) looked in good touch, stroking five boundaries. The look of dejection on his face told the entire story as the Guyanese right-hander slowly headed for the pavilion.
De Silva, the 50-year-old former Test leg-spinner, had cut short Chris Gayle's innings on the opening day as well and if that was an error of judgment, his refusal to make use of technology when Yousuf was stumped the next day was an act that highlighted his incompetence.
After chasing the leather for 10 hours and 36 minutes, West Indies sought a sound start in the second innings, which began after Danish Kaneria had entertained a crowd of nearly 4,000 with a run-a-ball 23 during a last-wicket stand of 39 with Umar Gul.
But Daren Ganga threw away his wicket unnecessarily when he attempted a suicidal single on his own, but found Imran Farhat smartly throwing down the stumps from square-leg. Soon after, Gayle perished as he fished his bat to an Umar Gul delivery which slanted across the left-hander.
Lara arrived to launch his farewell Test innings at Gaddafi Stadium with two classically-timed strokes prior to the tea interval before umpire de Silva announced the Sarwan verdict.
Earlier, Pakistan resumed at their overnight score of 265-4 and lost Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq in the first 27 minutes of the day's play. But the stylish Yousuf, in partnership with Kamran Akmal, dashed the West Indies' hopes of restricting Pakistan lead in the first innings.
Shoaib (69 off 155 balls with 10 fours and a six) glanced Jerome Taylor straight to Dave Mohammed, who was stationed at short square-leg but not before the all-rounder had put on a valuable 139 with Yousuf — a Pakistan record for fifth wicket against the West Indies.
The industrious Taylor picked up a well-deserved fourth wicket when Razzaq fished outside the off-stump without moving his feet.
Yousuf, surviving a close call on 115 when Lara reacted late in the slips, marched on merrily from where he had left on Sunday afternoon as he posted his eighth score of over 150.
When a lapse in concentration finally ended his marathon stay of eight hours and 21 minutes at the crease - ironically declared stumped by de Silva who again took the matter into his own hands by not seeking third umpire Nadeem Ghauri's assistance - Yousuf had extended his tally of Test runs to 1315 in only matches this year.
On the way Yousuf joined Javed Miandad (1122 runs in 17 Tests) and Zaheer Abbas (1093 in 10 Tests) in the 1,000-run club at Gaddafi Stadium. The 32-year-old's 10 Tests here have seen him score 1037 runs and his 330-ball knock, which was punctuated with 24 fours and one six, beat his previous highest against West Indies (146 in the first Test of the offshore series at Sharjah, 2001-02).
Kamran (78 off 121 balls, 13 fours) made a welcome return to form after an ordinary series in England. He was involved in a new seventh-wicket record stand of 148 against the West Indies with Yousuf which beat the previous mark of 128 by Wasim Raja and Wasim Bari at Karachi in 1974-75 until Gayle had both of them on deceptively turning balls.
Apart from Taylor who bagged four wickets, Dave Mohammed reaped a good harvest of three but the accurate Corey Collymore could have easily finished with a few. He was extremely unlucky to remain wicketless but figures often can be misleading.
| Scoreboard | |
| WEST INDIES 1st innings 206 (B.C. Lara 61; Umar Gul 5-65, Shahid Nazir 3-42) | |
| PAKISTAN 1st innings (overnight 265-4) | |
| Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Taylor | 57 |
| Imran Farhat lbw b Taylor | 9 |
| Younis Khan c Sarwan b Edwards | 11 |
| Mohammad Yousuf st Ramdin b Gayle | 192 |
| Inzamam-ul-Haq b Mohammed | 0 |
| Shoaib Malik c Mohammed b Taylor | 69 |
| Abdul Razzaq c Ramdin b Taylor | 5 |
| Kamran Akmal c Lara b Gayle | 78 |
| Shahid Nazir c Collymore b Mohammed | 0 |
| Umar Gul not out | 16 |
| Danish Kaneria c Ramdin b Mohammed | 23 |
| EXTRAS: (B-4, LB-7, NB-8, W-6) | 25 |
| TOTAL: (all out, 146 overs)485 | |
| FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16, 2-45, 3-133, 4-140, 5-279, 6-285, 7-433, 8-444, 9-446 | |
| BOWLING: Edwards 26-3-109-1, Taylor 33-7-115-4, Collymore 25-6-63-0, Bravo 20-3-63-0, Mohammed 31-4-98-3, Gayle 10-3-24-2, Sarwan 1-0-2-0 | |
| WEST INDIES 2nd innings | |
| C. H Gayle c Akmal b Gul | 11 |
| D. Ganga run out | 5 |
| R.R Sarwan lbw b Gul | 23 |
| B.C Lara not out | 28 |
| F. Edwards not out | 5 |
| EXTRAS: (LB-1, NB-1) | 2 |
| TOTAL: (for 3 wkts, 21 overs) | 74 |
| FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16, 2-20, 3-56. | |
| BOWLING: Gul 9-1-39-2, Nazir 8-3-27-0, Razzaq 1-1-0-0, Kaneria 2-0-7-0, Malik 1-1-0-0 | |
| UMPIRES: Simon Taufel (AUS), Asoka de Silva (SRI) | |
| TV UMPIRE: Nadeem Ghouri (PAK) | |
| MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama (SRI). | |
|
|
