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| December 17, 2006 | Sunday | Ziqa'ad 25, 1427 |
Clinch ODI series 3-1: Pakistan overwhelm West Indies by seven wickets
KARACHI, Dec 16: Despite an archetypal Shivnarine Chanderpaul century, Pakistan cantered to a series-clinching victory when they overwhelmed the West Indies by seven wickets in the fifth and final One-day International at the National Stadium on Saturday.
Badly beaten in the fourth game at Multan only three days ago, Pakistan came out with a compelling team performance to seal the series 3-1 after the opening game in Rawalpindi was washed out without a ball being bowled.
After restricting West Indies to 238 for seven – a below-par total on a typical bland limited-overs pitch – Pakistan romped home with 19 balls to spare, thanks’ to contrasting half-centuries by openers Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal.
Hafeez who had eyed his maiden century at this level in 41 games missed out by only eight runs when he was adjudged leg-before wicket to Dave Mohammed’s unorthodox left-arm spin by umpire. But his career-best 92 off 111 balls – which included five fours and one six each off Daren Powell and Chris Gayle – did enough to restore his confidence after earlier failures in the series.
Kamran given the licence to play freely after being promoted up the order, set the tone with a buccaneering 59-ball 56 while Hafeez played second fiddle in the opening partnership of 87 in 98 balls. The wicket-keeper/batsman bludgeoned nine boundaries apart from depositing a Powell full-toss over deep square-leg for six.
Yasir Hameed (41 off 69 balls, one four), who continued his rehabilitation in another breezy knock as he and Hafeez added 89 in 117 deliveries before he lofted one down Runako Morton’s throat in the deep. But by that time, the West Indies were just going through the motion as their bowlers struggled to find rhythm and accuracy to contain the rampaging batsmen.
The pleasing aspect of Pakistan’s win was that it was achieved without senior pros Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf being forced to make their contribution with the bat.
Shoaib Malik, who had been out of sorts in previous matches, was glad to get a rare opportunity to get himself amongst runs. His unbeaten 34 off 36 balls must have delighted Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer who the other day didn’t conceal his approbation for the all-rounder who put the final touches to the series along with Abdul Razzaq.
Earlier, Chanderpaul in spite of being hampered by a recurring knee problem was the cornerstone of West Indies innings as he scored his first century – 101 off 142 balls, eight fours – against Pakistan in One-day Internationals and fourth in 205 games. Coincidentally all his centuries were scored while opening the innings.
The left-hander, who has the crabbiest of batting stance in world cricket, battled his way to the three-figure mark in the 47th over. But the ball after reaching the landmark, he holed out to deep midwicket where Yasir Hameed held a well-judged catch. It was appropriate Brian Lara who in his final innings on Pakistan soil also reached a significant milestone when he became only the fifth batsmen in ODI history to reach 10,000 runs. The veteran skipper’s 44 off 55 deliveries – during a fourth-wicket partnership of 96 in 108 balls – with Chanderpaul extended his tally to 10019 runs in 287 matches.
The other players in this exalted group are Indian pair of Sachin Tendulkar (14537 in 374 games with world record 40 centuries) and Saurav Ganguly (10123 in 279), Inzamam (11591 in 370) and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya (11260 in 370).
Chanderpaul, the 32-year-old from Guyana, scored only his fourth limited-overs century and first since making an unbeaten 108 against New Zealand at Gros Islet in St Lucia (2002) 91 matches ago.
After Lara called incorrectly for the fourth successive time in the series, West Indies were forced to bat first for the third time and soon found themselves in trouble when Chris Gayle perished in the fourth over.
For the fourth consecutive occasion the Man-of-the-Tournament in the recent ICC Champions Trophy lost his wicket to the reinvigorated Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who had the big left-hander leg-before-wicket for seven.
After an impressive opening spell of one for 22 in six overs, Naved, declared Man-of-the-Match, later returned to scalp Lara, Chanderpaul and Dwayne Smith. Despite going being hit for 11 runs in the final over of the innings including the solitary six of the innings by Morton, Naved finished with impressive figures of four for 43.
Mohammad Sami also turned in a fine effort (one for 39 in 10 overs) after coming on first change and got of rid of Lendl Simmons for 21 when the right-hander drag one onto his stumps in the paceman’s third over.
However, the most heartening feature of this series has been the lasting impression made by Abdur Rehman. The slow left-armer again showed why he is rated so highly by both Inzamam and coach Bob Woolmer. The way he foxed Marlon Samuels, the match-winner at Multan three days ago with 100 not out, was a classic piece of spin bowling.
Samuels danced down the wicket to attempt a big heave over the onside, but found himself deceived in the air by the flight of the ball which curled away from the right-hander after pitching just around off-stump and enabled Kamran Akmal to bring off a smart stumping. The stand between Samuels (22 off 37 balls) and Chanderpaul realized 51 in 86 balls.
Rehman, arguably the find of the one-day series, later held a return catch in his final over to dismiss Denesh Ramdin after seeing the West Indian wicket-keeper dropped at long-off by Shoaib Malik off the previous ball. He claimed six wickets in three matches and conceded only 3.06 per over to put himself as a strong candidate for the World Cup squad.
Rana Naved’s haul of 11 wickets earned him the Man-of-the-Series award. But the surprise of the post-match presentation was Inzamam, of all people, being given a special prize – hastily constituted by PCB chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf – for being the ‘best fielder’ of the series!
Scoreboard
West Indies
C. Gayle lbw b Naved 7
S. Chanderpaul c Hameed b Naved 101
L. Simmons b Sami 21
M. Samuels st Akmal b Rehman 22
B. Lara b Naved 44
D. Ramdin c and b Rehman 3
R. Morton not out 14
D. Smith lbw b Naved 1
D. Mohammed not out 0
EXTRAS (NB-8, B-1, LB-11, W-5) 25
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 238
FALL OF WKTS: 1-19, 2-53, 3-104, 4-200, 5-205, 6-217, 7-222.
BOWLING: Gul 10-0-48-0; Naved 10-1-43-4; Sami 10-1-39-1; Razzaq 6-1-36-0; Rehman 10-0-39-2; Hafeez 4-0-21-0.
Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Mohammed 92
sKamran Akmal c sub (Taylor) b Collymore 56
Yasir Hameed c Morton b Gayle 41Shoaib Malik not out 34
Abdul Razzaq not out 7
EXTRAS (NB-3, LB-2, W-4) 9
TOTAL (for three wickets, 46.5 overs) 239
FALL OF WKTS: 1-87, 2-176, 3-224.
BOWLING: Powell 10-1-50-0; Smith 6-1-32-0; Collymore 10-0-44-1; Mohammed 9.5-0-53-1; Samuels 3-0-17-0; Gayle 8-0-41-1.
RESULT: Pakistan won by seven wickets to take the five-match series 3-1.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (Pakistan).
UMPIRES: Nigel Llong (England) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan).
TV UMPIRE: Riazuddin (Pakistan).
MATCH REFEREE: Alan Hurst (Australia).--AFP
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