Gayle Century In Vain As Pakistan Complete Whitewash

Pakistan 273-6 (Younus Khan 101, Misbah-ul-Haq 79no) beat
West Indies 242 (Gayle 122, Sarwan 62, Ifthikar Rao 4-59) by 31 runs

3rd Fortune Cup One Day International, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan took a 3-0 One Day International series win with a 32-run victory over the West Indies despite Chris Gayle's second century in three games in Abu Dhabi.

Younus Khan hit 101, his first century against the Caribbean side, and Misbah-ul-Haq an unbeaten 79 as Pakistan posted a formidable total of 273 for six and that proved enough as the West Indies were bowled out for 242 in the 47th over.

After they lost the toss, the West Indies made a promising start when Salman Butt was caught by Shawn Findlay off of Daren Powell for a duck.

Younus soon got into gear and added 85 with Khurram Manzoor (30) and then combined in a 103-run partnership with Misbah before being bowled by left-arm spinner Nikita Miller to end a 119-ball innings that included five fours and a six.

West Indies hit back when Jerome Taylor bowled Shoaib Malik for 13 and Shahid Afridi was caught by Shivnarine Chanderpaul off of Lionel Baker for six but a late blast of 21 from 11 balls by Kamran Akmal, also bowled by Taylor from the last ball of the innings, helped Pakistan accelerate late on.

Misbah faced 91 balls and hit three fours and a six while Taylor returned two for 50, with Powell, Baker, Miller and Chris Gayle, who had Manzoor caught by Brendan Nash, picked up one wicket apiece.

Pakistan struck early on to remove Sewnarine Chattergoon, who was caught by Younus off of left-armer Sohail Tanvir but Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan brought West Indies into contention with a 151-run stand for the second wicket.

Sarwan hit just two fours in a 73-ball knock of 62 that put the tourists on the right track and with Gayle in superb form at the other end, they looked on course to register a consolation win.

Gayle hammered 122 in 137 balls with five fours and six sixes but after Sarwan's dismissal in the 33rd over, apart from Jerome Taylor, who managed 17, no other batsmen could register a double figure score as once Pakistan got one wicket, the remaining eight followed in quick succession.

Iftihkhar Rao Anjum picked up four for 59 with the scalps of Sarwan, Chanderpaul (three), Xavier Marshall (nought), and Findlay (three).

Brendan Nash, brought in to bolster the batting, made one before he was caught behind by Akmal off of the leg-spin of Afridi, and afer a 39-run stand between Gayle and Taylor, Umar Gul had the West Indies skipper caught by Akmal to effectively end their resistance.

Taylor followed eight balls later when he was bowled by Gul, who finished with three for 31 when he had Daren Powell trapped in front for a golden duck before Tanvir (2-32) ended the match by bowling Lionel Baker for two.

West Indies replaced Carlton Baugh with Nash as Xavier Marshall took over the wicket-keeping gloves as Pakistan named an unchanged side.

The match represented West Indies' eighth loss on the trot against Test-playing nations while Pakistan proved that they can win matches without the absent Mohammad Yousuf, who recently signed for the ICL champions Lahore Badshahs.

© Cricket World 2008