da bet esporte： After a dull first day, it was a stroke-filled and eventfulsecond day at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium whenPakistan amassed a mammoth 493 and proceeded to turn thescrews on the West Indies
da premier bet： Anand Vasu01-Feb-2002After a dull first day, it was a stroke-filled and eventfulsecond day at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium whenPakistan amassed a mammoth 493 and proceeded to turn thescrews on the West Indies. Yousuf Youhana, who looked goodfor his second double ton, fell on 146, while surprise packageRashid Latif top-scored with 150 – his maiden Test ton. Yet,with all the clean hitting and sensible batting, there weretoo few pairs of eyes to witness the action. For a seconddisappointing day, the fans stayed away from the ground,leaving the thump of willow on leather to echo in hollowfashion from the rows of empty stands.In response to Pakistan’s daunting score, West Indies managed54/0 from 18 well-negotiated overs as the light faded, withChris Gayle (41, 7 fours) playing some pretty drives through the offside. Tomorrow, however, will require the West Indian battingto show a lot of character if they are to pull things back inthis match.Beginning the day on 78, Youhana moved from strength tostrength, driving magnificently back past the bowler. The inform middle-order bat, who came into this Test with over 2500runs at an average of 47 in 57 innings, capitalised on a goodopportunity and made those statistics look even better. In the107th over of the innings, Youhana slanted a full PedroCollins delivery outside the off-stump to the third-manboundary to notch up his ninth Test ton. It was an inningsthat made all the difference to the balance of the game.Youhana may have been the man who did most of the damage, butit would be an injustice to not put on the record thecontribution of Latif. Although he has always been a man forcrisis situations, Latif has seldom been viewed as a threat bythe opposition. The West Indies too seemed to make thatmistake and allowed Latif to get well-entrenched on a wicketthat, by the end of the first session on the second day, hadgot slower and lower. Pacing his knock well, Latif playedsecond fiddle to Youhana for the best part of his inningsbefore cutting loose when required.When Youhana finally made a mistake, it was already far toolate for the West Indies. Helping himself to 146 of the finestruns (276 balls, 18 fours, one six), Youhana made certain thatthe Pakistan bowling would have enough in the bank when theytook the field. Latif, however, remained unperturbed even ashe saw Cameron Cuffy clean-bowl Youhana. He had reason tomotor on without breaking a sweat, for the stand of 204 heshared with Youhana changed the complexion of the gamecompletely. Coming off just 57 overs at a rate of almost a runa minute, it took Pakistan to 382/6. Sadly for the WestIndies, there was more where that came from.Latif, who has made five half-centuries, including onetantalisingly close to the three-figure mark – 94 – againstBangladesh not three weeks ago, notched up his maiden hundredwhen he swept Hinds to fine leg in the 128th over of theinnings. Taking his helmet off, Latif sported a broad grin,waving his bat to the dressing rooms in the absence of anysizeable crowd.The stumper went on to make life increasingly dreary for theWest Indies, taking his maiden Test ton on to an even 150 (234balls, 18 fours, one six) before being bowled by part-timeoff-spinner Gayle. There was more success for Gayle, whomopped up 3/27 when the Pakistani batsmen gave the bowling thefull treatment in an attempt to score quickly and beginbowling. Skipper Waqar Younis (25*) and Shoaib Akhtar (20)clouted the bowling with gay abandon as 45 runs resulted inthe last 7.5 overs.Do spare a thought, though, for Mervyn Dillon. The 27-year-oldTrinidad fast bowler bowled his heart out, sending down 42overs that resulted in figures of 3/140 on a lifeless wicket.Then again, he can take heart from the fact that he is not thefirst fast bowler to think of his profession as thanklessafter a long stint out in the middle at Sharjah. And you canbe sure that he will not be the last either.
