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December 13, 2006 (Link to Scorecard)

West Indies have found a new confidence on their dull tour of Pakistan as Marlon Samuels, often an underperformer came up with a dazzling hundred. Brian Lara's men thanks to the special innings from Samuels could taste their first victory on Pakistan soil. Samuels scored an unbeaten hundred, the second of his career which followed a lovely spell of seam and swing bowling from Daren Powell which was instrumental in restricting Pakistan to 209. Windies raced away to the target losing just three wickets with as many as 15.1 overs to spare. It wasn't just a victory but it was a thrashing with the homeside never looking good to challenge West Indies throughout the game.

A weakened side it was for Pakistan with Inzamam not ready to play due to a finger injury he had sustained while trying to catch a powerful cover drive from Marlon Samuels at Lahore. Younis Khan was still away following his brother's death and Mohammad Yousuf stayed away to attend his pregnant wife. Two bowlers who had done really well - Umar Gul and left arm spinner Abdul Rehman were rested and in came Boom Boom Afridi making a comeback along with Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal and speedster Mohammad Sami. While West Indies were happy to include the fit Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they had to go without their best bowlers - Corey Collymore who was unwell and Jerome Taylor who was given a well deserved break. Daren Powell and chinaman bowler Dave Mohammed got an opportunity to play.

It was Pakistan's stand-in skipper Abdul Razzaq who had won the toss and had opted to bat first, a move that proved disastrous as his side slipped to 47 for 4 in the 17th over! Daren Powell sharing the new ball with Bradshaw took care of the opening batsmen - Shahid Afridi, dismissed in just the second over of the innings and the inform Imran Farhat. Dwayne Smith chipped in with two wickets with an outswinger and an inswinger. Pakistan with the loss of these four wickets got into the passive mode with Yasir Hameed keen on leaving most deliveries outside off and Faisal Iqbal looking to stay at the wicket and graft. Both the right handers managed to take their team to some respectability with a fifty-run partnership. But the pressure of getting more runs on a good batting track got the better of Faisal Iqbal who holed onto mid wicket hoiking Daren Powell. Faisal Iqbal's stay in the middle was cut short to just 30 which had come in 48 balls with 3 fours. Yasir Hameed was the next to depart but not before he had got a decent 71 to his name for which he had to patiently bat for 118 balls with just three boundaries coming. Skipper Razzaq (33 from 46) batted responsibly to help his side cross the 200-run mark. Pakistan had recovered quite well from 47 for 4 to 209 all out. Daren Powell was the stand out bowler with 3 for 33 in 10 overs while Dwayne Smith bowled reasonably well for his 2 for 29 in 10.

It was an ideal opportunity for Windies to win their first match, they needed their top order to see off the new ball which would swing around for sometime. But they were off to the worst start possible losing Chris Gayle and Lendl Simmons in consecutive deliveries of the 3rd over which was bowled by Rana Naved. Chris Gayle paid price for playing right across a swinging delivery and Lendl Simmons collected a first-ball duck after his promising half century in the previous game; he was rapped up on the pads in front of the stumps. The hat-trick was denied by Marlon Samuels who constructed the innings along with the ever reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul. It was a massive partnership in the context of the game, it was the best West Indies have ever made for the 3rd wicket against Pakistan in Pakistan. It was a 141-run stand that had got the West Indies in a strong position for a cake walk. Chanderpaul had pulled a Sami delivery to fine leg to be the only wicket to fall after those two early blows.

At the fall of Chanderpaul, Windies were just 58 away from victory with some batting left. Shivnarine Chanderpaul proved why he was an important part of the Windies' set up as he came up with 60 which came with 8 fours. The rest of the runs were smacked by Marlon Samuels with Brian Lara reduced to a spectator at the other end. Lara did his best to help Samuels get as many runs as possible to smash his second ODI hundred which had come after four years! Marlon Samuels finished on exactly 100 not out in just 99 balls. He had the comfort of getting most of his runs, 74 out of those 100 coming through 17 fours and a six, which was the shot of the day, a murderous pull off Rao Iftikhar Anjum. If Samuels had a night to remember, it was a night to forget for Rao Iftikhar Anjum after he was plundered without any mercy for 56 in 5.5 overs. Brian Lara gave the crowd one memorable hit in his unbeaten 13 for which they should be satisfied, it was a majestic cover drive for a six again coming off the poor Rao Iftikhar.

A dominating win it was for West Indies coming through a blistering innings from Marlon Samuels that had the sweetly timed straight drives to go along with the spanking cover drives, cuts and pulls. This spectacular display of shots all around the wicket has really displayed what potential the 25-year-old Jamaican has. So far he has been disappointing in translating his superb talent into runs! With this win, West Indies are a charged up unit and they are the favourites in winning the last game at Karachi on the 16th. Pakistan will have to get their best team and play their best cricket to halt the tourists from drawing the series 2-2.

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