Calm Misbah secures series victory

Ravi Rampaul single-handedly gave West Indies hope of keeping the one-day series alive with a blistering spell in Barbados to cut through Pakistan's top order. He ripped out three early scalps and, bowling his full allotment of overs unchanged, also accounted for the dangerous Umar Akmal leaving Misbah-ul-Haq as the key to the chase as Pakistan hunt victory.

The only way West Indies were going to claw their way back after a pitiful batting effort was to take quick wickets and Rampaul, recalled for this match to bolster the pace attack, delivered with dramatic results. He was aided by the over confidence of Ahmed Shehzad, fresh from his hundred in St Lucia, who tried to pull Rampaul's first delivery and top-edged to a back-tracking Lendl Simmons.

Then with his second ball Rampaul doubled his tally as Asad Shafiq pushed hard outside off and sent an edge to second slip; suddenly the West Indian fans started to find their voice. This tour started on the slow, low pitch of the Beausejour Stadium were the ball barely got above knee height but this Kensington Oval surface had far more pace and carry for the pace bowlers who were willing to bend their back.

Pakistan's batsmen were clearly uncomfortable in the conditions - or at least weren't willing to adjust their gameplan - and Mohammad Hafeez was the next to fall to another top-edged pull which was well taken by Devendra Bishoo, running towards deep square-leg, to leave the visitors 12 for 3.

Chasing a small target, Pakistan had some breathing space which allowed Mishah to take his own sedate time, but Umar also played his natural game and attacked the bowling. He struck five boundaries in a 27-ball stay before being undone by a wonderful delivery that bounced and shaved the glove as the batsman tried to sway out of the line.

However, from there West Indies couldn't force another vital breakthrough as Misbah continued to be a steadying presence and Hammad Azam, in his first ODI innings, showed composure and also pulled a free hit from Andre Russell for six.

West Indies 171 (Simmons 51, Darren Bravo 47, Ajmal 3-29, Wahab 3-38) v Pakistan
Live scorecard

The one-day series continued to follow a familiar path as West Indies fell away in depressing style by losing eight wickets for 53 to put Pakistan within sight of a series victory. Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo set a solid platform in a match reduced to 45 overs per side by morning rain, but the innings almost came to stand still after they departed and soon fell in a heap amid a mixture of prods, pokes and hopeless slogs.

Marlon Samuels, who is struggling to adjust back to international cricket, was again culpable in the loss of momentum as he took 35 balls over his 18, while Kirk Edwards laboured until being run out by a direct hit and between them the pair added 13 runs in six-and-a-half overs. Aside from Simmons, and to a lesser extent Darren Bravo, there is precious little confidence in West Indies' line up and it showed as the innings faded away with Wahab Riaz taking two in three balls.

Devon Smith's horror trot against Mohammad Hafeez's offspin had continued when he was trapped lbw first ball, the third time in a row he had fallen in such fashion. Hafeez has a similar stranglehold over the left hander as Graeme Swann imposed when West Indies faced England and Smith has little idea how to counter the straighter deliveries from round the wicket.

With Junaid Khan's first two overs costing just two, West Indies struggled for early momentum but then Bravo found the cover boundary with a back-foot drive despite a slow outfield. Simmons also responded with an elegant, powerful flick over deep midwicket for six off Junaid and the innings was starting to gain some shape.

The Pakistan spinners have posed a huge number of problems, but Simmons unleashed a strong slog-sweep against Saeed Ajmal for his second six and cut Shahid Afridi through backward point to reach 49. After reaching fifty from 61 balls Simmons had time to double his score, but drove a fraction too early and offered a low chance to Ajmal who took it well in his follow through. The onus was on Bravo not to follow a similar path of giving away a useful innings however, having struggled to get his strike-rate much above fifty he then played across a full ball from Hafeez as the stall kicked in.

Samuels struggled as he has throughout the series while Edwards could barely get the ball away against Ajmal. Samuels' painful stay was ended by the impressive Junaid who cramped him for room as he tried to force through the off side. Edwards briefly broke free with a thumping straight six off Ajmal, but Umar Akmal's direct hit from backward point found him well short.

Any hopes of pushing past 200 vanished in the space of three balls from Wahab as he had both Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo caught at long on. What compounded the shots was that if West Indies had had the foresight to take the batting Powerplay that fielder may not even have been there. That was eventually left to the bowlers and unsurprisingly they weren't up to the task with Devendra Bishoo's attempt at a reverse sweep ending the innings with eight balls unused.