KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, 20 May 2005 — Pakistan’s Abdul Razzaq took four wickets to lead his team to a comfortable 59 runs win over West Indies in the first One-Day International at the Arnos Vale ground in St. Vincent on Wednesday.
West Indies were bowled out for 133 runs in 45.2 overs chasing a disappointing Pakistan total of 192 runs to hand the visitors a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Pakistan’s bowlers led by man-of-the-match Razzaq (4-29) bowled tightly and intelligently on a supportive pitch to hand the home side only their second loss at the ground in 16 matches with the first defeat also at the hands of Pakistan in 1993.
The defeat continued a nightmarish home season for West Indies, who were whitewashed 5-0 by South Africa last week in the one-day series after losing the Test series.
Once again the home batsmen failed to show the required application on a pitch on which the visitors also struggled and had lost their last seven wickets for just 59 runs.
“I thought the bowlers did well to get them out for 192 runs,” said West Indies’ captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul. “There is no real excuse for our performance. We should have got the runs. Our batting failed to take it through.”
Pakistan, coming off a morale-boosting one-day series victory in India last month, struck early through Rana Naveed to remove openers Xavier Marshall (3) and Chris Gayle (22) to take the initiative.
Gayle, who had taken three for 48, then showed some flair with the bat to hit three fours in Rao Iftikhar’s third over before he was unlucky to be given out, caught off a no-ball.
The home side did not recover from their poor start and struggled to keep the score moving as only 37 runs were chalked up in the first 15 overs.
They lost wickets regularly with the experienced pair of Ramnaresh Sarwan (9) and Chanderpaul (13) also going cheaply to leave West Indies struggling on 77 for 7.
Dwayne Bravo top scored with 27 from 66 balls and put on the highest partnership (39) with Ian Bradshaw (17) for the eighth wicket to restore some respectability.
Pakistan skipper Inzamam ul-Haq praised his side for bowling with discipline. “It is a good victory for us and the best way to start the tour. Our total was not bad on this pitch. I thought Rana and Razzaq bowled beautifully.”
The next two games will be played at the weekend in St. Lucia.
