Sport

Gayle bags five as Windies win

West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul (right) collecting his Man of the match cheque from Kavin White of sponsors Digicel. Chanderpaul made 92 in the West Indies first innings and 153 not out in the second. - Dellmar

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS (ap)

CHRIS GAYLE CLAIMED five wickets with his offspin yesterday as West Indies sealed a convincing 276-run victory against Pakistan, winning their first Test in nearly a year despite a century from Shahid Afridi on the fourth day of the opening Test at Kensington Oval.

The West Indies, which claimed victory with more than a day to spare, lead the two-Test series 1-0 with the final Test to start Friday in Jamaica.

It was the West Indies' first Test victory since last June when the Caribbean side beat Bangladesh. Since then, they lost four in a row to England and lost the recent Test series with South Africa 2-0 with two draws.

The victory was the first for coach Bennett King in his fifth Test in charge of the West Indies, which had also lost eight one-day matches in a row before this match.

"It's quite relieving I guess," the 40-year-old Australian said. "The boys have really worked hard and deserve to win today."

Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer called his side's first innings performance of 144 all out "spineless," saying it was the catalyst for the heavy defeat.

Afridi (122) lashed six sixes and nine fours in his third Test century but Pakistan, facing a mammoth victory target of 573, was bowled out for 296 just after the lunch interval.

Gayle ended with five for 91, his second five-wicket haul in Tests.

The West Indies should have had early success when Afridi and Asim Kamal resumed the Pakistan innings at 113 for four. But Devon Smith dropped a dolly at long-off in the day's second over to relieve Afridi on 35.

Typical flourish

The right-hander, overnight 32, continued to play with typical flourish and passed his half century off 38 balls with his second six, a towering pull off Corey Collymore which cleared the scoreboard at square leg.

Kamal also collected his fifty, off 81 deliveries, in the same over with his seventh four. He was caught shortly after at slip by Smith off Gayle for 55 as he gloved a square cut.

Kamal and Afridi shared a frantic fifth wicket stand of 115 in just 96 minutes.

Afridi continued to blaze away despite the setback and Collymore and Gayle bore the brunt of his sizzling bat. He added another pulled six off Collymore and moved from 86 to 97 in one Gayle over with a four and a six on to the roof of the Kensington stand at midwicket.

The 25-year-old brought up his second Test century against the West Indies with a disdainful swat off Collymore that just failed to carry for another six. His 78-ball hundred was the ninth fastest in Tests and the second quickest by a Pakistani after Majid Khan's 74-ball effort against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976-77.

He added two more sixes off successive balls from Gayle before perishing to Daren Powell 10 minutes before lunch.

Afridi was caught at mid-off by Shivnarine Chanderpaul as he miscued a lofted drive. He batted for 175 minutes and faced 95 deliveries.

The right-handed Razzaq, who shared a stand of 95 with Afridi in just 79 minutes, was in sight of a half century as Pakistan lunched at 274 for six.

But the end came swiftly after the break as Gayle collected the last four wickets, which tumbled for 19 runs.