Pakistan complete the whitewash

Younis Khan's sixth ODI century gave the Pakistan bowling attack a platform to skittle out the West Indies.

ABU DHABI // Pakistan completed a series whitewash against the West Indies to move into fourth in the ODI rankings behind Australia, South Africa and India. It was Younis Khan's chanceless century that stood tall over the West Indies captain Chris Gayle's second ton to lead his team to a 31-run victory in the third and final match of the Fortune Cup series at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Gayle played a lone inning after an initial 151-run stand for the second wicket with Ramnaresh Sarwan, who became the first of the three victims in a devastating 10-ball spell from Rao Iftikhar Anjum. Then the Pakistan paceman had the second match centurion Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Xavier Marshall both, dismissed in his next over, as the West Indies slumped to 177/4, losing three wickets for nine runs. Anjum claimed the wicket of Shawn Findlay to return with five for 59 from nine overs. Umer Gul took three for 31 including the prized wicket of Gayle and his opening ball partner Sohail Tanvir, who struck first for Pakistan by removing the opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, completed the victory when he bowled last man Lionel Baker to dismiss the West Indies for 242. Gayle stood like a rock, briefly though, and was the seventh out to a full length ball off Umer Gul for 122, and that effectively ended any hope of a West Indies victory. Gayle's 137-ball knock contained half-a-dozen sixes and five fours, and his departure left them with nearly seven runs an over from the three remaining wickets to reach the winning target from 5.4 overs. Younis, the Man of the Match, anchored the Pakistan inning with a solid 101 off 119 deliveries. He came at the fall of opener Salman Butt to the first legal delivery bowled by Daren Powell to revive the inning with a couple of useful partnerships. He added 85 with opener Khurram Manzoor, who was let off twice early for his 30 in 59 deliveries, and 103 with Misbah ul Haq, who hit 79 not out with a six and three fours off 91 deliveries. The West Indies opening bowlers Powell and Jerome Taylor did all they could but were let down by sloppy fielding. They missed three run out chances and dropped Manzoor twice as Pakistan plodded to 15/1 in five overs. Younis' knock stood out in both partnerships as he was the more aggressive in picking up one's and two's, and the occasional boundary. He was bowled by Nikita Miller when he tried to reverse-sweep the spinner. Both Manzoor and Misbah provided him the good support. Misbah hit only a four and a six in the partnership with Younis, and it was their first match hero Kamran Akmal who provided the fireworks for Pakistan to close on 273/6. The wicket keeper batsman hit 21 off 11 deliveries wit a six and couple of fours after the captain Shoaib Malik (13) and Shahid Afridi (6) fell when going for quick runs in the slog overs. [e-mail]