1st Test at Lahore
Pakistan outplay Windies convincingly
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Brian Lara’s brilliance shone brightly at the Gaddafi Stadium, but as has happened so often in his career, the final outcome was yet another Test defeat for West Indies, as Pakistan eased to a nine-wicket win to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Lara stroked a classy 122 and, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (81), threatened a West Indian revival, but his dismissal sparked a familiar collapse, as Umar Gul finished with a match haul of nine wickets to leave Pakistan with the formality of scoring just 13 to seal the victory.
When play started this morning, West Indies’ fortunes were always likely to 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 a canter. The moment Lara left, though, regular service resumed, though Chanderpaul offered dogged resistance despite being unwell. Had it not been 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 off with fours off the first two balls he faced yesterday, and was similarly in control from the start today. Driving exquisitely through the off side, he repeatedly drilled boundaries with typical flourish - the front foot going out in a huge stride, the bat coming down in a lovely arc and finishing up in a huge follow-through. He uncannily found the gaps almost every time as well, ensured that the score kept moving and denied Pakistan 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 of the day, they needed more than a one-man act to make this a contest, and Chanderpaul filled the support role perfectly. He was solid in defence, and yet didn’t miss out on scoring opportunities, easing the ball into the gaps on both sides of the wicket. He struggled to combat dehydration after lunch 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 his bat, or by the reprieve handed to him by Akmal, who missed a regulation stumping when Chanderpaul was on 56. Till he finally miscued a pull off Shahid Nazir, West Indies were in contention to at least stretch the contest into the final day.
Pakistan’s bowlers had a mixed day - Gul was outstanding, getting plenty of seam movement and some reverse swing later in the afternoon to trouble Chanderpaul. Nazir was steady, Danish Kaneria quite disappointing, while Abdul Razzaq was pedestrian. Nazir gave them the early breakthrough by getting rid of the nightwatchman Fidel Edwards, but thereafter there was little for them to celebrate for the next three hours as Lara and Chanderpaul took charge.
Lara began proceedings by clipping and steering the fast bowlers for fours, and that set the trend for the morning. Each of his landmarks came in 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 to his 33rd Test century, and his first in Pakistan. Though he was the best bowler on view, Gul clearly came off second-best against Lara, going for 47 runs from 56 balls.
As the partnership grew, so too did Pakistan’s frustration: there were regular appeals against Lara, and while most of them didn’t have much merit, one - an lbw shout off Shoaib Malik, when Lara was on 80 - should clearly have been given. The deficit was getting whittled in quick time when Hafeez - who had earlier dropped a tough chance from Lara - got one to pitch, straighten and beat his attempted sweep. Simon Taufel agreed that the ball would have hit the stumps, and Pakistan finally had their man.
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 only victim of the innings. The second new ball then took care of the last three wickets, with Chanderpaul finally miscuing a pull after a gutsy 178-ball effort. Gul was denied his second five-for of the match, but finished off the West Indian innings.
Pakistan were made to work harder than they would have thought to get to the 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.\ As Lara’s wicket fell at 238 Pakistan bowlers found them back into the business after removing biggest hurdle in their way and then claimed quick success to put Windies under pressure , keeping alive the hopes for a possible win within four days of the match.
The departure of Lara caused a collapse in which West Indies lost Dwayne Bravo (2) lbw by Umer at 248 in 79.4 overs and keeper Denesh Ramdin (1) caught by Imran off Danish at a total of 251. The two wickets fell with the addition of three runs. Chanderpaul who followed in the foot prints of Lara with a responsible knock tried to keep one end alive before keeper Kamran missed a stump chance at (56).