da dobrowin： Brian Lara’s brilliance shone brightly at the Gaddafi Stadium, but as hashappened so often in his career, the final outcome was yet another Testdefeat for West Indies, as Pakistan eased to a nine-wicket win to take a1-0 lead in the three-match series
The Bulletin by S Rajesh14-Nov-2006Pakistan 485 and 13 for 1 beat West Indies 206 and 291(Lara 122, Chanderpaul 81, Gul 4-99) by 9 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
West Indies how they were out
Brian Lara’s ton went in vain as Pakistan were the clear victors, thanks to their allround performance © Getty Images
Brian Lara’s brilliance shone brightly at the Gaddafi Stadium, but as hashappened so often in his career, the final outcome was yet another Testdefeat for West Indies, as Pakistan eased to a nine-wicket win to take a1-0 lead in the three-match series. Lara stroked a classy 122 and, withShivnarine Chanderpaul (81), threatened a West Indian revival, but hisdismissal sparked a familiar collapse, as Umar Gul finished with a matchhaul of nine wickets to leave Pakistan with the formality of scoring just13 to seal the victory.When play started this morning, West Indies’ fortunes were always likelyto hinge on Lara’s performance, and that’s exactly how it transpired.While Lara was going strong, with Chanderpaul offering him solid support,the pitch seemed to be a batting paradise and runs were scored at acanter. The moment Lara left, though, regular service resumed, thoughChanderpaul offered dogged resistance despite being unwell. Had it notbeen for some sloppy work by the close-in fielders and Kamran Akmal, the wicketkeeper, the match would have finished even earlier than it eventually did.Lara’s first-innings effort, by his own admission, wasn’t a fluent one,but here he was in charge from the first ball he faced. He had started offwith fours off the first two balls he faced yesterday, and wassimilarly in control from the start today. Driving exquisitely through theoff side, he repeatedly drilled boundaries with typical flourish – thefront foot going out in a huge stride, the bat coming down in a lovely arcand finishing up in a huge follow-through. He uncannily found the gapsalmost every time as well, ensured that the score kept moving and deniedPakistan the opportunity to attack with too many fielders around the bat.Lara’s was the key innings, but given West Indies’ plight at the start ofthe day, they needed more than a one-man act to make this a contest, andChanderpaul filled the support role perfectly. He was solid in defence,and yet didn’t miss out on scoring opportunities, easing the ball into thegaps on both sides of the wicket. He struggled to combat dehydration afterlunch and regularly needed medical attention on the field, but he hung on,not bothered by the number of times Gul passed the outside edge of hisbat, or by the reprieve handed to him by Akmal, who missed a regulationstumping when Chanderpaul was on 56. Till he finally miscued a pull offShahid Nazir, West Indies were in contention to at least stretch thecontest into the final day.Pakistan’s bowlers had a mixed day – Gul was outstanding, getting plentyof seam movement and some reverse swing later in the afternoon to troubleChanderpaul. Nazir was steady, Danish Kaneria quite disappointing, whileAbdul Razzaq was pedestrian. Nazir gave them the early breakthrough bygetting rid of the nightwatchman Fidel Edwards, but thereafter there waslittle for them to celebrate for the next three hours as Lara andChanderpaul took charge.Lara began proceedings by clipping and steering the fast bowlers forfours, and that set the trend for the morning. Each of his landmarks camein style too: a glorious straight-drive off Gul brought Lara his fifty,and he crashed the same bowler off the back foot through point to get tohis 33rd Test century, and his first in Pakistan. Though he was the bestbowler on view, Gul clearly came off second-best against Lara, going for47 runs from 56 balls.As the partnership grew, so too did Pakistan’s frustration: there wereregular appeals against Lara, and while most of them didn’t have muchmerit, one – an lbw shout off Shoaib Malik, when Lara was on 80 – shouldclearly have been given. The deficit was getting whittled in quick timewhen Hafeez – who had earlier dropped a tough chance from Lara – got oneto pitch, straighten and beat his attempted sweep. Simon Taufel agreedthat the ball would have hit the stumps, and Pakistan finally had theirman.With the biggest barrier out of the way, Pakistan moved in for the kill.Gul took care of Dwayne Bravo while Denesh Ramdin became Kaneria’s onlyvictim of the innings. The second new ball then took care of the lastthree wickets, with Chanderpaul finally miscuing a pull after a gutsy178-ball effort. Gul was denied his second five-for of the match, butfinished off the West Indian innings.Pakistan were made to work harder than they would have thought to get tothe target of 13 – Hafeez fell for 1, and more than five overs were bowled- but those were small crumbs as Pakistan pocketed the big prize.