-Reuters
Pakistan's Shahid Nazir (left) celebrates the dismissal of West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan on the first day of the first Test at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, yesterday.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP):

SECOND-STRING fast bowlers Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir demolished the West Indies batting line-up yesterday to leave Pakistan in a strong position after the opening day of the first Test.

Nazir (3-42) made short work of the top order in the morning session and Gul (5-65) mopped up the tailenders with his third career five-wicket haul to dismissed the West Indies for 206.

Pakistan were 39 for one in reply when bad light ended the day's play 18 overs before the scheduled stumps.

Mohammad Hafeez was not out on 11, while Younis Khan hit his 1,000th Test run of the year and was batting on 10.

"There was a huge responsibility on me in the absence of two main bowlers and I am happy that I have performed," Gul said.

Gul and Nazir made up for the loss of banned fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who were banned for two years and one year, respectively for using the banned substance nandrolone. Both have filed appeals against the bans.

Brief recovery

West Indies captain Brian Lara struck a defiant 61 and led a brief recovery in the second session before he was caught behind off Gul after hitting eight boundaries in his 106-ball knock.

It was Lara's first half century in five Test matches in Pakistan - beating his previous best of 44 made in his debut Test here at the Gaddafi Stadium 16 years ago.

"I enjoyed Lara's wicket more because at that time I was under pressure and had taken just one wicket in the morning session," Gul said.

Lara was involved in the highest partnership of 52 for the seventh wicket with Dave Mohammed (35) before Gul claimed four wickets in the second session for 11 runs.

"I don't think there's any great demons in the pitch but we did not apply ourselves as we should on the first day of a Test match," Lara said. "Hopefully, we can restrict Pakistan for a small total and get an opportunity to bat and make a big score (in the second innings)."

Gul removed Jerome Taylor (eight) and Mohammed (35) off successive deliveries before finishing off the West Indies innings when Shoaib Malik took a splendid diving catch in the slips to dismiss Fidel Edwards.

Earlier, the West Indies slipped to 122 for six before lunch after Nazir struck three times in as many overs.

Opening batsman Chris Gayle played in his typical aggressive style and scored 34 off 28 balls after Lara won the toss and opted to bat first.

Gayle - named player of the tournament in the ICC Champions Trophy with three centuries - hit three consecutive fours in Gul's fourth over and took the West Indies total to 41 before the lanky paceman struck and had Daren Ganga (three) caught in the slips.

Three wickets

Nazir then took three wickets in the space of his 12 deliveries as the West Indies slipped to 52-4 inside the first hour.

The right-arm fast bowler was lucky to win an lbw decision against Gayle from Sri Lankan umpire Asoka de Silva as the television replays suggested that the ball had hit the opener high on the thigh.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (three) edged to Khan off a Nazir delivery that swung away while Shivnarine Chanderpaul (five) was out lbw on the back foot off Nazir's ball which sharply came into the left-hander.

All-rounder Dwayne Bravo - who scored a century in a two-day warm-up game last week - hit five boundaries in his brisk knock of 32, but fell in legspinner Danish Kaneria's (2-58) second over when he played a loose drive and was neatly caught by Nazir at mid-off.