ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Umar Gul would have enjoyed this wicket, Brian Lara's, more than the other four he claimed on the first day of the first Test at Lahore.

LAHORE: Second string fast bowlers Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir demolished the West Indies batting line-up on Saturday to leave Pakistan in a strong position after the opening day of the first cricket Test.

Nazir (three for 42) made short work of the top order in the morning session and Gul (five for 65) mopped up the tail with his third career five-wicket haul to dismiss the West Indies for 206.

Pakistan was 39 for one in reply when bad light ended the day's play 18 overs before scheduled stumps. Mohammad Hafeez was batting on 11, while Younis Khan hit his 1,000th Test run of the year and was batting on 10.

Recovery

West Indies captain Brian Lara struck a defiant 61 and led a brief recovery in the second session before he was caught behind off Gul after hitting eight 4s in his 106-ball knock. It was Lara's first half century in five Tests in Pakistan — beating his previous best of 44 made in his debut Test here at the Gaddafi Stadium 16 years ago.

Lara was involved in the highest partnership of 52 for the seventh wicket with Dave Mohammed (35) before Gul claimed four wickets in the second session for 11 runs.

Gul removed Jerome Taylor (8) and Mohammed (35) off successive deliveries before finishing off the West Indies innings when Shoaib Malik took a splendid diving catch in the slips to dismiss Fidel Edwards.

Earlier, the West Indies slipped to 122 for six before lunch after Nazir struck thrice in as many overs.

Opening batsman Chris Gayle played in his typical aggressive style and scored 34 off 28 balls after Lara won the toss and opted to bat. Gayle hit three consecutive 4s in Gul's fourth over and took the West Indies total to 41 before the lanky paceman struck and had Daren Ganga (3) caught in the slips.

Nazir then took three wickets as the West Indies slipped to 52 for four. The right-arm fast bowler was lucky to win an lbw decision against Gayle from Sri Lankan umpire Asoka de Silva as the television replays suggested that the ball had hit the opener high on the thigh.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (3) edged to Younis Khan off a Nazir delivery, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul (5) was out leg before on the back foot off Nazir's ball which came sharply into the left-hander. — AP

SCOREBOARD

West Indies — 1st innings: C. Gayle lbw b Nazir 34, D. Ganga c Younis b Gul 3, R. Sarwan c Younis b Nazir 3, B. Lara c Akmal b Gul 61, S. Chanderpaul lbw b Nazir 5, D. Bravo c Nazir b Kaneria 32, D. Ramdin c Hafeez b Kaneria 12, D. Mohammed c Akmal b Gul 35, J. Taylor lbw b Gul 8, F. Edwards c Malik b Gul 2, C. Collymore (not out) 1; Extras (lb-8, nb-2): 10. Total: 206.

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-41, 3-46, 4-52, 5-96, 6-122, 7-174, 8-202, 9-203.

Pakistan bowling: Gul 15.1-2-65-5, Nazir 14-4-42-3, Razzaq 7-2-22-0, Kaneria 18-3-58-2, Malik 2-0-11-0.

Pakistan — 1st innings: M. Hafeez (batting) 11, I. Farhat lbw b Taylor 9, Younis Khan (batting) 10; Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-4): 9. Total (for one wkt): 39.

Fall of wicket: 1-16.

West Indies bowling: Edwards 5-1-13-0, Taylor 7-2-11-1, Collymore 2.5-0-10-0.

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