September 29 Sunday 2002
Misbah-ul-Haq hits unbeaten 129 against West Indians

KARACHI: Pakistan's new batting star, Sargodha's Misbah-ul-Haq, made a fighting unbeaten 129 on the second day of a three-day practice match against the West Indians, at the Police Park Ground in Colombo on Saturday, but the Pakistanis still finished 52 runs behind their opponents' first innings toal of exactly 300.

By the close of play yesterday, the West Indians had taken their overall lead to 98 runs, having scored 46 for two in their second innings.

The Pakistan team is in Colombo, where they play the first Test of a three-match rubber against Australia starting on October 3. The West Indies, having stayed on in Sri Lanka after the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, are due to begin a tour of neighbouring India in a few days' time.

The practice match arranged for the two sides, allows all 16 players on either team to take part. But in one innings, only 11 men can bat and just 11 players can bowl in a single innings.

Facing the West Indians' 300 made on the first day on Friday, the Pakistanis resumed at their overnight 2-0 but lost quick wickets and by the 18th over were tottering at 38 for five. Misbah and star all-rounder Abdur Razzaq then took up the task of reconstruction. Misbah batted until Waqar Younis applied closure at 248 for nine. He 
scored 129 not out of 180 balls hitting a six and 22 fours on the way. With Razzaq, his sixth-wicket stand was worth 103 runs as the latter made 42 off 83 balls with seven fours.

All-rounder Naved-ul-Hasan, whose personal contribution was just 16 off 24 balls, later helped Misbah add 81 runs for the eighth-wicket partnership off just 77 deliveries.

In the West Indians' second innings, fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar dismissed Chris Gayle (5) and Daren Ganga (0) on the fifth and sixth balls of the second over, which was his first. The third-wicket pair, however, batted out the rest of the day with ease.

West Indians won toss
West Indians 1st Inns 300
Pakistanis 1st Inns (overnight 2-0)
Imran Nazir b Collins 2
Taufiq Umar c Jacobs b Collins 4
Imran Farhat c W W Hinds b Powell 5
Younis Khan c W W Hinds b Cuffy 16
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 129
Faisal Iqbal c Jacobs b Lawson 3
Abdur Razzaq c Ganga b Breese 42
Hasan Raza c Gayle b Breese 11
Naved-ul-Hasan c Jacobs b Dillon 16
Saqlain Mushtaq c R O Hinds b Breese 0
Shoaib Akhtar not out 4
Extras (b2, lb4, nb10) 16
Total (9 wkts decl, 66 overs) 248

Did not bat: *Waqar Younis, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Zahid, Danish Kaneria

Fall: 1-3, 2-16, 3-34, 4-34, 5-38, 6-141, 7-158, 8-239, 9-242
Bowling: Collins 9-0-40-2 (7nb); Cuffy 12-5-24-1; Powell 7-3-10-1 
(1nb); Lawson 4-0-15-1; Nagamootoo 12-1-64-0 (2nb); Dillon 10-1-39-1; Breese 12-1-50-3

West Indians 2nd Inns
C H Gayle b Shoaib Akhtar 5
W W Hinds not out 17
D Ganga c Imran Farhat b Shoaib Akhtar 0
R O Hinds not out 19
Extras (b4, lb1) 5
Total (2 wkts, 15 overs) 46

To bat: *C L Hooper, M N Samuels, S Chanderpaul, R R Sarwan, R D 
Jacobs, G R Breese, M V Nagamootoo, P T Collins, M Dillon, C E Cuffy, D B Powell, J J C Lawson

Fall: 1-19, 2-19

Bowling: Waqar 4-1-14-0; Shoaib Akhtar 4-0-19-2; Saqlain 4-1-7-0; 
Kaneria 3-2-1-0

Umpires: A G Dissanayake & M G Silva.