West Indies win in style

PROVIDENCE, Guyana (CMC):

Another fluent innings from Lendl Simmons followed tidy bowling - led by Ravi Rampaul - to hand West Indies a commanding 10-wicket victory over Pakistan in the final one-day international (ODI) yesterday.

Simmons struck seven fours and three sixes in a career-best, unbeaten 77 from 73 balls, and Kirk Edwards supported with 40 not out, as West Indies successfully chased 140 without losing a wicket, winning with 159 balls remaining at the Guyana National Stadium.

Simmons formalised the result when he played a delivery from Ahmed Shehzad to point and gained a second run from an overthrow.

The result meant Pakistan won the five-match series 3-2, after winning the first three ODIs handsomely before West Indies rebounded with a one-run victory under the Duckworth-Lewis Method in the rain-affected fourth ODI last Monday.

Rampaul had led the West Indies attack with another penetrative spell on an unpredictable pitch, finishing with four wickets for 45 runs from 10 overs.

BEst spell

West Indies captain Darren Sammy produced his best spell for the series with the ball, collecting three for 30 from 10 overs, and Dwayne Bravo supported with two for 16 from 5.2 overs.

It was the first time in the series that the West Indies bowlers had dominated the Pakistan batsmen, with Mohammad Hafeez leading the way for the visitors with 55 from 83 balls and Umar Akmal supporting with 24 - but no one else passed 20 for the visitors.

Simmons and Edwards then nervously negotiated six overs before the interval to carry West Indies to 34 without loss.

But Simmons was fortunate on eight, when he gained the benefit of the doubt from Jamaican umpire Norman Malcolm rather than Pakistan captain and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi for an lbw decision.

Edwards, too, enjoyed his slice of fortune, when he under-edged a cut at a delivery from Afridi, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman failed to hold a difficult chance.

Close call

After the interval, Simmons and Edwards navigated West Indies to their destination, but Simmons again benefited, when Hafeez dropped him on 30 at slip from the off-spin of Saeed Ajmal, and Edwards, too, survived a close run-out chance.

Simmons reached his 50 at a run-a-ball with a single to long on off Afridi before he ushered West Indies over the finish line.

Earlier, Rampaul set Pakistan back early, when he had Taufeeq Umar, playing for the first time in the series, caught behind for three in the fifth over.

West Indies again found it difficult to separate the pair of Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad, and they were just getting into the thick of things when Sammy produced his best spell of the series.

Sammy was full of praise for his team after the match.

"It's a good feeling to have won again, but it's been well-played in the last two games for the boys," he said. "We played as a team and got the result we wanted."

 Pakistan (maximum 50 overs)

M. Hafeez bSammy 55T. Umar c wk Baugh b Rampaul 3A. Shehzad bSammy 9U. Salahuddin lbw b Bishoo 8Misbah-ul-Haq lbw bSammy 1U. Akmal b Rampaul 24S. Afridi c wk Baugh b Rampaul 9+M. Salman not out 19Wahab Riaz cSammy b Rampaul 0S. Ajmal lbw b D.J. Bravo 5J. Khan lbw b D.J. Bravo 1

Extras: (lb1, w4) 5

Total: (all out) 139

Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Taufeeq Umar, 4.3 overs); 2-48 (Ahmed Shehzad, 14.5); 3-67 (Usman Salahuddin, 21.1); 4-72 (Misbah-ul-Haw, 22.4); 5-93 (Mohammad Hafeez, 28.2); 6-108 (Umar Akmal, 30.6); 7-113 (Shahid Afridi, 32.1); 8-113 (Wahab Riaz, 32.4); 9-127 (Saeed Ajmal, 38.4)

Bowling: Rampaul 10-1-45-4 (w1); Martin 9-2-21-0;Sammy 10-1-30-3; Bishoo 7-0-26-1; D.J. Bravo 5.2-0-16-2

Overs: 41.2

West Indies (target: 140 off 50 overs)

L. Simmons not out 77K. Edwards not out 40Extras: (b2, lb6, w12, nb3) 23Total: (without loss) 140

Did not bat: D.M. Bravo, R. Sarwan, M. Samuels, D.J. Bravo,D. Sammy, +C. Baugh Jr, A. Martin, D. Bishoo, R. Rampaul

Bowling:Shahid Afridi 6-0-31-0 (w6); Junaid Khan 3-1-16-0 (w1); Wahab Riaz 5-0-38-0 (nb2, w2); Saeed Ajmal 7-0-33-0 (w3); Mohammad Hafeez 2-0-10-0; Ahmed Shehzad 0.3-0-4-0 (nb1)

Overs: 23.3

Result: West Indies won by 10 wickets

Series: Pakistan win five-match series 3-2

Toss: Pakistan

Man of the Match: L. Simmons (West Indies)

Man of the Series: Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)

Umpires: A. De Silva, N. Malcolm

Match referee: J. Crowe

TV umpire: J. Wilson

Reserve umpire: P. Nero