Pakistan in command after Yousuf breaks world record

Prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf Thursday broke the 30-year-old world record of most test runs in a calendar year as Pakistan consolidated its position in the third and final cricket test against the West Indies.

Yousuf drove paceman Corey Collymore to a boundary through mid on to reach 48 and surpass the record of 1,710 runs made by former West Indies captain Viv Richards in 11 test matches in 1976.

The West Indies struggled to find the breakthrough in the first session on the fourth day with opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez (85) and Yousuf (78) guiding Pakistan to a commanding 241-2 at lunch.

It gave the home team a solid lead of 285 runs after the West Indies was bowled out for 260 in its first innings in reply to Pakistan's 304.

Yousuf hit 12 boundaries in his unbeaten knock off 101 balls and overshadowed Hafeez, who has hit seven fours in his patient six-hour undefeated innings.

Daren Ganga dropped Yousuf on 68 when he ran hard from deep midwicket but could not hold on to a diving catch off part-time leg-spinner Ramnaresh Sarwan in the second last over before lunch.

Yousuf, 32, has had a fabulous run of batting form in 2006 that saw the right-handed elegant batsman scoring eight test centuries — the most by any batsman in a calendar year.

He made two centuries in the home series against India early this year before compiling three each against England and the West Indies.

The West Indies pacemen found little assistance off the slow and low wicket of the National Stadium as Hafeez and Yousuf added 111 runs after resuming at the overnight 130-2.

Collymore found the edge of Yousuf's bat on couple of occasions, but due to slow nature of the wicket, the ball did not carry to the slip fielders.

When Yousuf reached 43, he overtook his countryman Zaheer Abbas' (583 runs) record of most runs by a Pakistani in a three-test series.

Pakistan leads the series 1-0 after a nine-wicket victory in the first test at Lahore, while the second test ended in a draw at Multan last week.

Source IHT.com

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