West Indies' players, Jerome Taylor (left to right), Dave Mohammed and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, stand during the presentation ceremony at the end of their third and final Test cricket match against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan, yesterday. - Reuters
KARACHI, Pakistan (CMC):
West Indies spirited effort to save the third and final Test ended in a disappointing defeat yesterday at the National Stadium, as Pakistan swept aside the visitors' lower order after tea.
West Indies, overnight 39 for two, were bowled out for 244 an hour into the final session to lose by 199 runs to hand Pakistan a 2-0 series margin.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul carried the fight for most of the afternoon, top-scoring with an efficient 69 that spanned 2-3/4 hours.
Captain Brian Lara scored 49 and Ramanresh Sarwan got 35 to give West Indies early hope before Umar Gul struck decisively.
The lanky pacer claimed Lara to a catch at extra cover and then toppled Sarwan with a wicked yorker that sent him to hospital with a hairline fracture of his right foot.
The 22-year-old Gul, leading wicket-taker in the series with 16, finished with two wickets for 89 runs from 19 overs. Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria picked up the key scalp of Chanderpaul on his way to three for 69 from 26 overs. Shahid Nazir contributed two for 49 from 18 overs, and under-fire all-rounder Abdul Razzaq finished off the match with two for 23 from 12 overs.
LARA PROUD
"I'm still very proud of them. I think they tried their best. We worked really hard," Lara said of his team after the match.
"The pitch here didn't offer us much and of course Pakistan playing at home are accustomed to the conditions," Lara said. "They knew exactly how to play on such a pitch and adapted to conditions better than we did."
Earlier, Lara and Sarwan endured a few anxious moments on resumption before establishing a confident partnership of 80 in the first hour and a half.
Lara was missed on a tough chance at gully by Mohammad Hafeez when 24 and seemed set to make the most of his fortune. But Inzamam-ul-Haq made an inspired switch and Gul reaped immediate success.
Lara had been distracted by a sightscreen malfunction that needed several minutes to correct and perished the ball afterwards.
The left-hander lofted a low catch to Shoaib Malik at short extra cover as he tried to force off the back foot. Lara struck nine fours off 92 balls, his knock of 49 carrying his series tally to 448 runs.
One over later, the West Indies were literally pained even more as Sarwan's Pakistan trip was ended by a carbon copy of the delivery that ended his first innings without scoring.
SARWAN OUT
This time, Gul's pacy in-swinging yorker didn''t find the stumps, but was jammed from inside edge onto the boot. It floored Sarwan and ended his participation as a hospital visit confirmed a hairline fracture which also rules him out for the five One-day Internationals that follow.
Chanderpaul quickly adapted to the pitch and looked in prime touch.
At the other end, Runako Morton seemed keen to use attack as the best form of defence against the wiles of Kaneria. He punched the leg-spinner through the covers for a boundary and added two big straight hits that earned six and four in the same over.
Next over, however, Kaneria collected quick revenge, as Morton misread a googly and chipped a high return catch as he adjusted his stroke late.
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN 1st Innings 304
(Mohammad Yousuf 102; C. Collymore 3-57)
WEST INDIES 1st Innings 260
(D. Ganga 81; Umar Gul 4-79)
PAKISTAN 2nd Innings
339 for six declared
(Mohammad Yousuf 124, Mohammad Hafeez 104)
WEST INDIES 2nd Innings (target: 444 runs)
(overnight 39 for two)
C. Gayle b Umar Gul 2
D. Ganga lbw b Shahid Nazir 2 *B. Lara c Shoaib Malik b Umar Gul 49 R. Sarwan retired hurt 35 S. Chanderpaul lbw b Danish Kaneria 69 R. Morton c and b Danish Kaneria 16
D. Bravo c Younis Khan b Shahid
Nazir 26 +D. Ramdin not out 25
D. Powell c Younis Khan b
Danish Kaneria 0 J. Taylor lbw b Abdul Razzaq 1 C. Collymore lbw b Abdul Razzaq 0 Extras (b9, lb5, nb5) 19 TOTAL (all out) 244
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-17, 3-97, 4-126,
5-183, 6-227, 7-227, 8-236, 9-244. NB: Sarwan retired hurt at 3-101.
Bowling: Umar Gul 19-2-89-2 (nb3); Shahid Nazir 18-6-49-2 (nb2); Danish Kaneria 26-6-69-3; Shoaib Malik 1-1-0-0; Abdul Razzaq 12-5-23-2.
Result: Pakistan won by 199 runs.
Series: Pakistan win three-match series 2-0.
Umpires: D. Harper, M. Benson (TV Replays: Riazuddin).
ICC Match Referee: R. Mahanama.
Man-of-the-Match: Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan).
Man-of-the-Series: Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan).
