Umar (130), Haq (103*) keep Pakistan on top

May 24, 2011 Sports

Taufeeq Umar celebrates getting to his ton

Tourists in sight of series-leveling win

By Sean Devers in St Kitts
In association with Digicel,
Queensway & Leisure Inn

Tafeeq Umar completed his fifth Test century and first since 2003 while Skipper Misbah Ul Haq scored his third Test ton before left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman took three important wickets to leave Pakistan well placed to deny the West Indies a series win today.
Umar, who took 28 minutes yesterday to score the three runs required to post his century, added 130 with his Captain as Pakistan increased their overnight total of 203-3 to 377-6 when Ul Haq declared just after lunch on reaching his century.
Set a world record 427 to win in four and a half sessions, teenage debutant Kraigg Braithwaite had his off-stump knocked out before he had scored and West Indies never recovered despite a battling half-century from Darren Bravo.
They struggled to 130-5 still 297 away from a very unlikely win today and with Nash (30) and Carlton Baugh (7) the last of the batsmen at the crease and the pitch although still good for batting, offering turn and bounce for the spinners, the match could be all over by Lunch today.
The demise of Ramnaresh Sarwan for a duck and Marlon Samuels for six to Rehman were crucial body blows to the fragile West Indies batting order.
The departure of the 22-year-old Bravo just after he reached his fourth fifty in five Tests at 115-5, put Pakistan firmly in charge after their 40-run loss in Guyana and even if Nash reproduces the form which got him a century the last time he batted here last year, he could run out of partners.
The absence through a sore shoulder of Shiv Chanderpaul who scored a hundred in the double century stand with Nash last year leaves a gapping hole in the middle order and Skipper Darren Sammy will have the opportunity to prove he deserves his place at number eight in the order.
When play began yesterday Umar and Ul Haq had to counter a defensive field setting in sweltering heat as the Pakistanis were prevented from scoring too quickly in the first hour. While Umar looked nervous in the nineties, Ul Haq stroked Ravi Rampaul to the extra-cover boundary and clipped Sammy for fours through mid-wicket and then steered him for four off consecutive balls.
Umar reached the three-figure mark from 249 balls, 351 minutes with 10 fours and Ul Haq extended the lead to 300 when Umar whipped leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo for four with almost an hour still left in the opening session.
Hunting their first Test win against West Indies since 2006, Pakistan, watched by a very small working day crowd accelerated their scoring towards the end of the session as Ul Hal, the only batsman to make a fifty in the Guyana Test, pulled Bishoo for four to reach his 12th half-century at this level.
Umar’s luck finally ran out when he was run out by a direct hit from Sammy to the non-striker’s end at 296-4 after hitting 13 fours in his innings and benefiting for three dropped catches and a missed run out opportunity on Sunday.
Ul Haq changed gear and went after Bishoo with sweeps and pulls as the Guyanese bowled a leg-stump line to utilise the rough and by lunch Ul Haq was on 85. The dashing Umar Akmal was with him on seven and West Indies were on the back foot.
After Lunch Akmal was the aggressor, using his feet and lofting Bishoo over long-off for six and effortlessly depositing Rampaul onto the top of the pavilion over long-on as Ul Haq, who fell for 99 against New Zealand last year, slowed down as he approached his century.
Bishoo struck when Akmal pushed forward to a perfect leg-break which pitched outside the leg-stump and hit off stump and the bemused Akmal on his way for 30 at 358-5.
Mohammed Salman continued to struggle with the bat in his debut Test series when he was removed by Rampaul for eight at 367-6 before Ul Haq, who’s previous centuries were an unbeaten 161 and 133, reached his first ton in over a year with an edged boundary off Rampaul, armed with the new ball.

Darren Bravo

The new ball was enforced on the West Indies with Bishoo in the middle of a good spell since the seam of the ball became damaged after 110.3 overs and a new ball had to be used. A new ball must be used if the ball, older 110 overs, is damaged.
The most overs bowled in a Test match with the same ball involved the West Indies who bowled 185.3 overs against India in 1962 when Lance Gibbs got eight wickets before the new rule was introduced.
The declaration was made at 13:24hrs when Ul Haq, who batted for 231 minutes, 141 balls and hit 10 fours and two sixes, reached his century.
Bishoo with 2-149, was again the leading bowler for West Indies who quickly lost Braithwaite when he went back to a ball that he should have been forward to from Tanvir Ahmed.
At 5-1 and the absence of Chris Gayle proving a huge blow to the top order, Bravo joined Simmons and the Trinidadian pair took their team to 54-1 by Tea.
The left-handed Bravo began his Test career last year with three fifties in Sri Lanka but has struggled against the spinners in his three innings in this series prompting some former West Indian players to suggest he bat at number four and use either Ramnaresh Sarwan or Marlon Samuels at three. Bravo missed a few big-turning off-breaks from Ajmal but two disdainful straight drives for sixes off Rehman rekindled memories of Brian Lara, while Simmons’ confidence grew as his innings progressed.
With 373 needed by Tea and with Sarwan and Brendon Nash still to come, victory was as unlikely as having a full year without rain in Guyana but the prospects of saving the match had increased. But Simmons (24) was taken on the second attempt at gully by Hafeez when he punched Rehman off the back foot at 59-2, while Sarwan fell four runs later. Sarwan played back to Rehman and was hit just over the keen roll of his pad and Umpire Billy Bowden adjudged him not out.
However, the referral showed the ball would have just hit the top of the wicket and he had to go for a duck leaving the West Indies, with just one win in their last 18 Tests, precariously placed on 63-3. Samuels, back at Test level for the first time since 2008 when he played against Australia in Trinidad and with 57 in the first innings, arrived with his team in desperate need of a meaningful partnership. Samuels (6) did not last long as Rehman the least attacking of the three Pakistan spinners, had him caught behind at 77-4, to bring Nash to the crease.
The Australian born Jamaican favoured the cut but looked very uncomfortable against the spinners, while Bravo reached his fifty with a glorious square cut for four off Ajmal which also brought up the West Indies 100.
But like he has done on three previous occasions in Sri Lanka, Bravo failed to convert a fifty into a century and was LBW to left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz for 50 after hitting two fours and two sixes in his 144-ball innings.
Carlton Baugh (7) and Nash (30) survived to the close but barring a miracle or an all-day thunderstorm, Pakistan should wrap up this contest by Lunch today to draw the series 1-all.
Scores: West Indies 223 and 130 for 5 (Bravo 50, Rehman 3-26) need 297 runs to beat Pakistan 272 and 377 for 6 dec (Umar 135, Misbah 102*).