Centurion Hafeez leads Pakistan to tour-match win

Mohammad Hafeez carried on with his impressive World Cup form as he led Pakistan to a 68-run win over University of West Indies Vice-chancellor’s XI on Monday.

Hafeez (retired hurt on 101) and Abdur Rehman (four wickets) were the stars for Pakistan as they played their first tour match at the Mindoo Phillip Park Stadium in Castries, St. Lucia.

Pakistan made 287 runs from their quota of 50 overs, with handy contributions from most batsmen including, Taufeeq Umar (44), Ahmed Shehzad (49) and Umar Akmal (57). However, it was Hafeez’s 93-ball knock that did the most damage, after the West Indian university side dropped the stand-in Pakistan captain in the first over. The opener then went on to plunder 10 fours and two sixes before retiring out to give his teammates a chance to gain batting practice.

Umar Akmal was also impressive with the bat as he hit eight fours and a six in his 57-run stint.

For the hosts, pacer Carlos Brathwaite was the most successful bowler, with three wickets off his 10 overs and Nkruma Bonner also chipped in with two wickets from his four overs of leg-spin bowling. West Indies international Fidel Edwards could only manage one wicket from his eight overs, while star all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was expensive on his return from injury as he gave away 69 runs from his right overs.

The hosts’ captain and opener Omar Phillips could only score nine runs before being bowled out by medium-pacer Tanvir Ahmed, who returns to the Pakistan side after missing out on the World Cup.

Miles Bascombe was dismissed for 26 by left-arm seamer Junaid Khan, and the opener was soon followed back to the pavilion by Kyle Corbin, who was caught off the bolwing of Wahab Riaz.

Bravo then combined with Bonner for the hosts’ biggest partnership (48 runs) and resurrected the chase. Bonner was dismissed by left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman for 43 runs. Bravo, true to his reputation as a big-hitter, scored 63 runs from 70 balls, hitting eight fours and two sixes to become Rehman’s second victim.

Rehman took two more wickets to finish with figures of four wickets for 27 runs off his 10 overs. The hosts were eight wickets down and 68 runs behind the target when they finished up their quota of 50 overs, to finish at 219-8.

Pakistan’s limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi opted to sit out, along with Misbah-ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal and Sadaf Hussain.

Pakistan meet West Indies on Thursday, in the one-off Twenty20 match before the one-day international series gets underway on Saturday (April 23).

Pakistanis: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Taufeeq Umar, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Hammad Azam, Usman Salahuddin, Mohammad Salman (wicketkeeper), Tanvir Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Abdur Rehman

University of West Indies Vice-chancellor’s XI: Omar Phillips (captain), Miles Bascombe, Kyle Corbin, Nkruma Bonner, Dwayne Bravo, Kjorn Ottley, Chadwick Walton, Carlos Brathwaite, Kevin McClean, Keron Cottoy, Fidel Edwards, Gilford Moore