West Indies pull off tie to stun Pakistan

[Mirza Ghalib]

West Indies pull off tie to stun Pakistan
AFP
07-20-2013

GROS ISLET: West Indies and Pakistan tied the third one-day international at Beausejour on Friday after the home side rallied in a thrilling final over.

West Indies scored 14 runs off the last over bowled by seamer Wahab Riaz to finish level with the visitors on 229 off 50 overs.

The five-match series remains tied at 1-1 with the remaining two games to be played at the same venue on Sunday and Wednesday.

Earlier, Pakistan were again indebted to captain Misbah-ul-Haq and the late aggression of Umar Akmal in totalling 229 for six against the hosts at the Beausejour Stadium on Friday.

In his usual calm, unruffled manner, Misbah compiled a topscore of 75 to steady the innings after the early loss of both openers while Akmal swatted an unbeaten 40 off 31 deliveries, dominating an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 52 with Wahab Riaz (19 not out) to give the tourists a fighting chance on a pitch offering considerably more pace and bounce than for the first two ODIs in Guyana.

Fast-medium bowlers Jason Holder and Dwayne Bravo took two wickets apiece but skipper Bravo's decision to persist with himself over the final overs proved costly.

It was a bewildering decision given that Marlon Samuels was only allowed three overs, which cost four runs.

Playing in front of his home fans, former captain Darren Sammy completed his 10-over spell for a cost of 30 runs while claiming the wicket of opening batsman Nasir Jamshed.

Misbah's effort was ended in the 45th over via a Bravo yorker, leaving him still short of that elusive first ODI hundred.

He has now extended his record for the most half-centuries in this form of the game, 27, without getting to three figures.

During the course of his innings the 39-year-old became the most prolific run-scorer so far this year in the 50-over-a-side format.

Energised by the assistance from the Beausejour pitch, the West Indies bowlers claimed the first three wickets via miscued pulls and hooks, Kemar Roach displaying impressive presence of mind to snare Ahmed Shazad on the fine-leg boundary as he tossed the ball upwards before momentum took him over the rope and returned onto the field to complete the catch to give fellow-Barbadian Holder the first wicket of the match.

Debutant Haris Sohail took some time to get going but contributed a useful 26 in a 60-run fourth-wicket partnership with his captain that was essential that Pakistan managed some sort of platform that allowed for the late assault by Akmal and Wahab, especially given the swift demise of Shahid Afridi to Holder.

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles (wk), Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo (capt), Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder

Pakistan: Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan

P.S. If Australia can crash out in the first innings of the present Test match, 128 all out, no reason for us to feel ashamed of our performance either.

[Mirza Ghalib]

Pakistan's lightning assault sees off Windies

Agencies - 2013-07-22

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: Inclement weather, the Duckworth/Lewis method and a lightning assault by Pakistan's middle-order batsmen stole the thunder from the West Indies as the visitors snatched the rain-affected fourth one-day international by six wickets on Sunday.

In a match already reduced to 49 overs-per-side and after Marlon Samuels blazed an unbeaten 106 in the home team's total of 261 for seven, Pakistan were set a revised target of 189 off 31 overs as a second shower of the day interrupted play when they were 68 for two off 17 overs.

Needing a further 121 off 14 overs, half-centuries from Mohammad Hafeez and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq sped the visitors to the target with one over to spare.

“It was like a T20 game when we came back out,” said a delighted Misbah after his key role in the victory.

“Mohammad Hafeez and I realised that we just had to play normal cricketing shots and look for the odd boundary. It was a case of not panicking and just staying focussed on the target.”

Following a tie in the third match two days earlier, Pakistan now have an unbeatable 2-1 lead going into the fifth and final match at the same Beausejour Stadium venue on Wednesday.

West Indies seemed a dejected bunch when they took the field after being told by the umpires of the revised target, and Pakistan capitalised, Hafeez and Misbah crashing 54 runs off five overs before home captain Dwayne Bravo tried to get his team back into the match.

Hafeez fell to Kemar Roach for 59, an innings decorated by five fours and two hooked sixes off fast-medium bowler Jason Holder, while Bravo himself accounted for Shahid Afridi who was promoted up the order to accelerate the Pakistani scoring.

However, new batsman Umar Akmal (29 not out) maintained the required scoring tempo and with Misbah showing his remarkable versatility in speeding along to 53 off 43 balls at the other end to keep his team well on course, it was left to Akmal to finish off the match with three consecutive boundaries off the disheartened West Indies captain.

“When we came back on the field after the recalculation, two of our main bowlers (Roach and Sunil Narine) had already bowled five overs so we were virtually without their services at this crucial stage,” said Bravo, who conceded 49 runs off six overs.

Samuels returned to something like his sumptuous best, stroking four sixes and nine fours off 104 balls in a feast of batsmanship in the midday sunshine.

He put on 95 for the fifth wicket with Lendl Simmons, who supported Samuels' classy assault with a belligerent 46 off 44 balls.

West Indies made two significant decisions before a ball was bowled in replacing hard-hitting Kieron Pollard with Devon Smith and demoting Chris Gayle to number five in the batting order in light of his continuing struggle for runs against the new ball.

He was back in the middle at 63 for two after Smith fell cheaply to Mohammad Irfan and Johnson Charles was trapped leg-before by Wahab Riaz, benefiting from a huge slice of luck almost instantly when put down by Hafeez off Wahab before he had scored.

Although far from his destructive best, Gayle contributed 30 to a 57-run third-wicket stand with Samuels before failing to clear long-on off the bowling of Shahid Afridi.

West Indies: CH Gayle, J Charles†, DS Smith, DM Bravo, MN Samuels, LMP Simmons, DJ Bravo*, DJG Sammy, KAJ Roach, SP Narine, JO Holder

Pakistan: Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal†, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan

http://www.dawn.com/news/1030863/pakist ... ff-windies