Bravo brothers provide foundation for Windies victory

(Reuters) – Half-brothers Darren and Dwayne Bravo provided the foundation for success as West Indies beat Pakistan by 37 runs today to win the second one-day international in Guyana and tie the five-match series.

Darren Bravo proved the mainstay of a much improved batting performance for the home team with a top score of 54 with elder sibling Dwayne contributing a vital 43 not out to take West Indies to 232 for eight wickets from the opening 50 overs.

Pakistan were then tied down by an efficient bowling performance, ending well short of the target at the Providence Stadium.

Sunil Narine, who had not taken a wicket in West Indies’ three previous one-day internationals, returned figures of 4-26 as Pakistan were bowled out for 195 in 47.5 overs.

Darren Bravo and wicketkeeper Johnson Charles put together a patient 79-run second wicket stand to steady the innings after talisman Chris Gayle has been caught behind in the first over, seeing off a threatened repeat of the 98 all out West Indies scored in the first ODI on Sunday.

Dwayne Bravo, captaining West Indies, partnered with the heavy hitting Kieron Pollard for a 70-run sixth wicket stand to pick up the scoring rate as Pakistan threatened to restrict the West Indies.

The tally over 200 was always going to be difficult for Pakistan to chase down as the early bounce on the wicket disappeared and it got markedly slower as the day wore on.

Pakistan, who did not hit a scoring shot off their first five overs, needed one of their big hitters to come off but saw wickets tumble regularly without any of their batsman able to settle at the crease.

Opener Nasir Jamshed offered four chances in his innings before departing on 54 and a 50 for Umar Akmal came too late to provoke a dramatic finish.

Shahid Afridi, the swashbuckling hero of Sunday’s win, made just five runs and with his wicket the fate of the tourists was sealed.

The remaining three ODIs will be played at Gros Islet in St Lucia on Friday, Sunday and Wednesday next week.

 

Scoreboard

West Indies innings

Chris Gayle b Umar Akmal b Mohammad Ifran 1

Johnson Charles st Umar Akmal b Shahid Afridi 31

Darren Bravo b Saeed Ajmal 54

Marlon Samuels b Saeed Ajmal 21

Lendl Simmons c Umar Akmal b Shahid Afridi 10

Dwayne Bravo not out 43

Kieron Pollard b Asad Ali 30

Darren Sammy run out 3

Kemar Roach run out 0

Sunil Narine not out 1

Extras (b-5 lb-11 w-21, nb-1) 38

Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 232

Did not bat: Jason Holder

Fall of wickets 1-2 2-81 3-123 4-137 5-150 6-220 7-226 8-226

Bowling: Mohammad Irfan 10-0-38-1 (1nb, 2w), Asad Ali 6-1-35-1 (2w), Saeed Ajmal 10-0-45-2 (4w), Mohammad Hafeez 7-0-32-0, Wahab Riaz 7-0-37-0 (3w), Shahid Afridi 10-0-29-2 (1w)

Pakistan innings

Nasir Jamshed c Roach b Pollard 54

Ahmed Shehzad c Charles b Roach 19

Mohammad Hafeez c Simmons b Narine 20

Misbah-ul-Haq b Sammy 17

Asad Shafiq c Holder b Samuels 10

Umar Akmal c Samuel b Dwayne Bravo 50

Shahid Afridi st Charles b Narine 5

Wahab Riaz b Narine 3

Saeed Ajmal c Sammy b Narine 1

Asad Ali c Pollard b Dwayne Bravo 2

Mohammad Irfan not out 0

Extras (lb-3 w-11) 14

Total (all out; 47,5 overs) 195

Fall of wickets: 1-37 2-64 3-103 4-122 5-137 6-151 7-162 8-164 9-195

Bowling: Roach 6-4-14-1, Holder 7-2-30-0 (3w), Narine 10-1-26-4 (1w), Sammy 10-0-46-1 (1w), Samuels 7-0-32-1, Pollard 6-0-35-1, Dwayne Bravo 1.5-0-9-2 Result: West Indies won by 37 runs Man of the match: Sunil Narine (West Indies)