Close Pakistan 130 for 1 (Umar 64*, Younis Khan 61*) and 472 lead West Indies 264 (Hooper 84*, Ganga 65) by 338 runs
scorecard

It was almost as if Pakistan and West Indies had batted on entirely different pitches. On a surface which had seemed a batsman's nightmare when West Indies had batted, Pakistan rattled up 130 runs for the loss of only one wicket with bewildering ease. The truth about the track lay somewhere in between; what was undeniable, though, was that West Indies' bowling attack was one of the most toothless ever to play for them. Their incompetence with the bat had competition from their ineptitude with the ball.

Pakistan, opting not to enforce the follow-on after getting a 208-run first-innings lead, didn't start all that well. Shahid Afridi had lived a charmed life in the first innings, being dropped time and time again by fielders too butter-fingered to punish him for his impetuosity, but his luck ran out today. He flashed wildly at a good-length delivery from Mervyn Dillon outside off. Ridley Jacobs held on to the resultant nick to dismiss Afridi for a three-ball duck (0 for 1).

The first three overs of the innings were maidens, and Taufeeq Umar and Younis Khan, for a short time, seemed to be troubled by Dillon and Cameron Cuffy. That quickly passed, and Umar and Khan were soon playing with such ease that one would think they were playing against schoolboys.

Khan carried on from where he left off in the first innings, pulling and driving the bowlers with impunity. Umar had some early jitters, edging a couple off Dillon and Cuffy, but luck - or cricketing karma - saw them evade the fieldsmen, falling short on one occasion, and streaking through the vacant third-slip area on the other. He was also dropped twice, by Ramnarine and Pedro Collins, but the overwhelming memory of his innings would be his superb straight-driving.

Twice off Cuffy and once off Collins, he stood up tall and unleashed classical, perfectly-timed straight-drives that Tendulkar would have been proud of. Had the crowd of about 11 people not been silent already, an awed hush would surely have broken out at each of those strokes.

The morning began in predictable fashion, with nightwatchman Dillon not lasting long against the reverse-swinging duo of Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. Having kept out 29 balls before scoring, Dillon edged Shoaib to gully where Umar did well to hold a low catch, after which he executed an aesthetically pleasing dive (170 for 5).

Ryan Hinds played with assurance during his short innings of 11, and was unfortunate to be given out by umpire Darrell Hair. He went on the back foot to an Abdur Razzaq delivery, missed the ball completely, and was plumb in front – but the ball had pitched outside leg. Hair, however, had no time for such niceties, and up went the finger (189 for 6).

While Carl Hooper dug in at one end, Ridley Jacobs counter-attacked at the other. He hooked Razzaq for a boundary in front of square before lofting Afridi over mid-on for four. An emphatic sweep to the square-leg boundary off Saqlain Mushtaq inspired Hooper to have a go as well – he hoicked a one-bounce four to midwicket, as Saqlain's second over of the day went for 11.

But the light at the end of the tunnel was that of an incoming train. Jacobs fell shortly after lunch, misreading a Saqlain doosra (236 for 7). He had made an entertaining 31, in a partnership of 47.

The very next over, a snorter from Shoaib Akhtar bowled a hapless Dinanath Ramnarine through the gate for a duck (237 for 8). Shoaib followed that up with a magnificent piece of reverse-swing bowling that awed even its victim, Cameron Cuffy, a fast bowler himself. The ball was released on a line at least two feet outside off but swung back sharply to topple Cuffy's off-stump and send him packing for 4 (247 for 9).

Hooper fought valiantly, and went past 5000 Test runs, but he had absolutely no support as West Indies lost their last wicket, that of Pedro Collins, with 9 runs still needed to avoid the follow-on. Collins, who made 1, got an inside edge onto his pad off a Saqlain Mushtaq delivery, and Inzamam-ul-Haq took a fine diving catch at second slip to finish it off.

Hooper had shielded Collins superbly, taking a single towards the end of every over, putting away every loose delivery that came his way. An imperious straight six off Saqlain was followed by a hoick over midwicket for four but there is only so much one man can do, especially if his name is not Lara.

Teams
Pakistan 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq, 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdur Razzaq, 7 Rashid Latif (wk), 8 Waqar Younis (capt), 9 Saqlain Mushtaq, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Danish Kaneria.

West Indies 1 Daren Ganga, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Wavell Hinds, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Ryan Hinds, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Dinanath Ramnarine, 9 Mervyn Dillon, 10 Cameron Cuffy, 11 Pedro Collins.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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