WI dive head-on into defeat

Rana took two for 23 while leg-spinner Shahid Afridi (two for 28) and Shabbir Ahmed (two for 19) also backed up Razzaq’s Man of the Match performance. Earlier, opener Salman Butt had a top score of 43 as Pakistan totalled 192 off 44.3 overs after being sent in.

The West Indies, coming off a 5-0 series sweep at the hands of South Africa, slumped to their seventh consecutive defeat as their batting failed once again.

Rana broke through in the fifth over when Xavier Marshall top-edged a hook to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal. Chris Gayle spanked five fours in 22 off 21 deliveries, including three in one over from Rao Iftikhar. But Rana made another decisive strike with a short ball that Gayle miscued into the leg side. Kamran made good ground to the leg side to grasp a fine running catch.

The middle order struggled against disciplined Pakistan bowling on a helpful pitch and wickets continued to fall at regular intervals to dent the home team’s chances. Ramnaresh Sarwan edged to first slip off Shabbir Ahmed at 43 for three. Shahid Afridi’s introduction brought a wicket from his first ball as Morton’s laboured innings of 13 off 48 balls was ended by Kamran’s third catch.

The pursuit continued to fall apart with three wickets tumbling for three runs midway through the innings. Wavell Hinds dragged on from Razzaq, soon to be followed in the pavilion by his skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Courtney Browne.

Chanderpaul edged Razzaq to the wicketkeeper while Browne chipped a return catch to Afridi to leave the innings in ruin at 77 for seven in the 28th over. Dwayne Bravo led the West Indies batting with 27 and added 39 for the eighth wicket with Ian Bradshaw (17). But the visitors wrapped up a comfortable victory once Razzaq pouched a return catch off Bradshaw to end the partnership.

Razzaq added the wicket of Daren Powell with a clever slower ball and Shabbir sealed the win as Bravo holed out to long-on.

Earlier, Pakistan’s innings was given a rousing start by Shahid Afrifi, who hit three boundaries in 24 off 21 balls. But his bizarre run out injected life into the West Indian effort.

Afridi would have made a second run to third man but in stretching for his crease, he lost his bat and was out of his crease when wicketkeeper Browne broke the stumps from Corey Collymore’s return. Browne also accounted for Shoaib Malik, who edged Bradshaw at 55 for two in the 13th over. Yousuf Youhana and Salman shared an assured stand of 40 for the third wicket before the second of three run outs in the innings started a slide.

Salman fell seven runs short of a half century when he slashed Bravo’s medium pace to backward point. Youhana struck a composed 30 off 46 deliveries before he was undone by some swift work by Browne as the batsman strayed out of his crease after steering the ball into the ground.

The innings fell away after that with Gayle delivering two telling blows with the scalps of captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and his deputy Younis Khan in the same over. Inzamam misjudged a sweep and was bowled behind his back while Younis chipped a return catch that Gayle dived full length to his right to pouch. The lower order could not rally and only Razzaq with 22 off 31 balls passed double figures.

Off-spinner Gayle led the bowling with three for 48 off 10 overs. Bradshaw ended with two for 27 off eight overs. The final two matches in the series are in St Lucia on Saturday and Sunday.