BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Penetrative bowling from Ravi Rampaul and Devendra Bishoo was upstaged by a typically resolute, unbeaten 62 from Misbah-ul-Haq that guided Pakistan to a series-clinching, three-wicket victory over West Indies in the third One-day International yesterday.
Rampaul finished with four wickets for 32 runs from nine overs, and Bishoo ended with three for 42 from nine overs, as West Indies failed to successfully defend a modest target of 172 in their rain-affected match at Kensington Oval.
The result meant that the Pakistans have taken an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, after winning the first two ODIs by eight and seven wickets respectively at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St. Lucia.
Lendl Simmons had hit the top score of 51 and Darren Bravo supported with 47, but West Indies gave another feeble batting performance, and were dismissed for 171 with eight balls of their weather-reduced allocation of 45 overs remaining.
Simmons and Bravo put on 86 for the second wicket, but West Indies failed to kick-on, after they were sent in to bat.
No other batsman reached 20, as Saeed Ajmal collected three for 29 from 8.4 overs, Wahab Riaz snared three for 38 from eight overs, and Mohammad Hafeez captured two for 31 from nine overs to undermine West Indies’ batting.
Rampaul then left the visitors reeling on 49 for four in the 12th over, with a telling opening burst.
He had Ahmed Shehzad caught behind and Asad Shafiq caught at second slip for ducks off successive deliveries in his first over – the second of the Pakistan innings – before Mohammad Hafeez top-edged a hook at his short delivery and was caught at backward square leg for five.
Rampaul elevated West Indies’ hopes, when he had Umar Akmal caught behind for 36 to leave Pakistan wobbling.
Rampaul and the other West Indies fast bowlers ran out of steam on a hard, bouncy pitch under overcast skies, and Hammad Azam joined Misbah to put on 78 for the fifth wicket to get Pakistan moving in the right direction again. Bishoo then triggered a slide that got West Indies excited, when he had Azam dubiously trapped lbw for 30 in the 32nd over.
The jockey-sized leg-spinner added the scalps of Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi caught at extra cover for 11, and Mohammad Salman bowled off the inside edge for three to leave Pakistan rocking on 148 for seven in the 36th over.
But West Indies could not finish the job, and they were condemned to their eighth straight ODI loss against Pakistan. Earlier, Simmons and Bravo played an array of strokes in their stand, when play commenced an hour and 45 minutes later than scheduled.
Overnight and early morning rain delayed the start, but the weather steadily improved, and the covers were peeled away to unveil an unblemished pitch.
Much to the delight of a holiday crowd celebrating Barbados’ national heroes, including West Indies legend Garfield Sobers, opener Simmons glanced a delivery from Junaid Khan to deep fine leg for his first boundary, and Bravo drove Mohammad Hafeez off the back-foot through cover for his first four. They continued to plunder the runs, and evaporated Pakistan’s spin bowling threat until Simmons gave a return catch to Ajmal in the 21st over, and Hafeez trapped Bravo lbw in the 28th over.
After this, there was little or no resistance from the remainder of the West Indies batsmen, as Pakistan’s bowlers again took control.