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| West Indies v Pakistan |
| All-rounder Dwayne Smith hit 32 off 15 balls and took three big wickets with his medium-paced seamers as West Indies won the World Cup opener by 54run
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| JAMAICA
, 14-March-2007
6:25:56 AM |
| The hosts lost the toss and were asked to bat first, reaching 241-9 in Jamaica with an aggressive 63 from local star Marlon Samuels the main contribution.
Pakistan started badly with their chase, and struggled to build momentum before Smith struck his killer blows.
Shoaib Malik (62) and Rao Iftikhar (3-44) did well in a losing cause.
Man-of-the-match Smith finished with 3-36, ending the crucial stand between Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq by dismissing both batsmen, and adding the wicket of Kamran Akmal for a golden duck.
Though Malik scored his runs quickly, he only had the tail for company and Pakistan eventually finished well adrift, all out for 187 with 16 balls remaining.
The decision by Pakistan to bowl first - expected to be replicated by many captains during the tournament - allowed Umar Gul and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to test out the dry wicket on offer.
There were no devils in it, but it was on the slow side and offered some seam movement.
Once Chris Gayle had edged Naved behind for two, Ramnaresh Sarwan should have gone next ball, but Younis Khan spilt a chance to his right at second slip.
Sarwan went on to add 49, putting on 62 with the slow-scoring Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the second wicket.
But the outstandingly accurate seamer Iftikhar ousted both Guyanese batsmen, and Samuels and Brian Lara had to rebuild the innings.
The new batsmen were conscious, too, of the need to improve a sluggish scoring rate which had the scoreboard reading 80-3 after 27 overs.
Samuels was the first to press the trigger, hitting Iftikhar for six and adding 14 off a Danish Kaneria over.
Kaneria's leg-spin remained the target, Lara playing a dreamy lofted off-drive for six and a textbook late cut for four in the same over.
The net result was a vital partnership of 91 in just over 17 overs and it was probably the critical period of the match.
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