Nazir, the wazir in Pakistan innings

It means the visitors lead by exactly 200 with three second innings wickets standing. Teenager Imran and Mohammed had carried Pakistan to 152 without loss the previous evening. They continued from where they had left off on Saturday and had given their side the base for a sizeable total that should set up an absorbing last day challenge for West Indies. Once they were separated, the rest of the Pakistan batting were unable to sustain the effort, so though they had raced to 253 for three at lunch, they could only progress to 298 for five at tea before crawling to their position at stumps.

Imran, whose 131 lasted nearly 270 minutes, faced 180 balls and struck 20 fours. He and Mohammed returned on Sunday to again bully the West Indies fast bowlers after a sedate start against the aging warriors, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. They blossomed to play sparkling strokes and take advantage of the glorious conditions that have blessed this match, but Imran was fortunate not to have been adjudged lbw when 116 off Walsh.

After Imran and Mohammed started to explode, West Indies captain Jimmy Adams called on Reon King for his first spell of the day. As he has done over the last two months, he made the breakthrough and captured three wickets in the space of 19 balls to set back Pakistan.

First, he gained an lbw verdict against Mohammed, whose 82 off 164 balls lasted 250 minutes contained eight fours, then had Imran caught by Adams at cover, and Younis Khan caught behind for 23 to a top-edged cut after hitting five fours in his brief knock.

Bowling with a lot more purpose and direction, the West Indies’ fast bowlers restricted the Pakistanis in the afternoon period. They were less obliging to the opposition batsmen than in the morning period, when the line and length was all wrong. The evergreen Courtney Walsh put in a long, tireless spell of 12-2-18-1 and was well supported by young bucks Reon King and Nixon McLean, who shared 13 overs between them in the period and conceded 21 runs.

For their efforts, the West Indians were rewarded with the wickets of Inzamam-ul-Haq, caught and bowled by Walsh, and Yousuf Youhana, caught at cover by Jimmy Adams for 19 off McLean in the space of five balls in the final half-hour before the break.

After four overs in the evening period, West Indies claimed the second new ball with the score 307 for five after 95 overs with the old "cherry". This was an invitation, however, for the Abdur Razzaq in particular and captain Moin Khan to play a few more strokes. In McLean’s 23rd over, he peppered the cover boundary with strokes of varying descriptions for three of the five boundaries in his unbeaten 32 to bring up the fast bowler’s century and force Adams to remove him from the attack.

For the next 95 minutes, Ambrose, King, and Adams with his modest left-arm spin, tied down the Pakistan batsmen. In that time period, 26 overs were bowled, they were 15 maidens, only 17 runs were scored, and two wickets fell, both to the West Indies captain. Trying to free himself, Moin chopped a long-hop from Adams into his stumps, and Wasim Akram, whose lower-order batting has transformed matches for Pakistan many times in the past, offered a "soft" bat-pad catch to short leg.

Scoreboard

Pakistan (1st innings): 253

West Indies (1st innings): 398

Pakistan(2nd innings; overnight 152-0): Mohammad Wasim lbw King 82, Imran Nazir c Adams b King 131, Younis Khan c Jacobs b King 23, Inzamam-ul-Haq c&b Walsh 29, Yousuf Youhana c Adams b McLean 19, Abdur Razzaq batting 32, Moin Khan b Adams 14, Wasim Akram c Hinds b Adams 0, Saqlain Mushtaq batting 2; Extras: (lb4, w1, nb8) 13. Total: (for seven wkts in 123 overs) 345

Fall of wickets:1-219, 2-232, 3-248, 4-294, 5-294, 6-341, 7-341

Bowling:Ambrose 30-13-49-0, Walsh 28-4-76-1, King 23-7-62-3, McLean 23-4-107-1, Adams 17-6-34-2, Chanderpaul 2-0-13-0.