Sport | Cricket
Pakistan aim for clean sweep of series with third win
Shoaib Malek said he wanted his Pakistan side to take a cleansweep of the three-match series against the West Indies by winning today's final one-day international.
- By M. Satya Narayan Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:41 November 15, 2008
- Suhail Tanveer was the hero of Pakistan's victory in the second one-day international against the West Indies.
- Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: Shoaib Malek said he wanted his Pakistan side to take a cleansweep of the three-match series against the West Indies by winning Sunday's final one-day international.
The West Indian team were back on the training pitch on Saturday as they prepared to try and salvage some pride with a victory on Sunday.
Pakistan defeated West Indies by 24 runs in the second ODI on Friday but skipper Malek said he wanted to keep the pressure up and go for a cleansweep.
He said: "Since we have not been playing a lot of international cricket lately, winning this series here comes at the right time.
"It is great for the team's morale, more so as it comes before the crucial series against India.
Consistency
"We still have one match left and we want to win 3-0. Consistency is one factor that the team lacks so I am keen to win 3-0."
Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar again faces a late fitness this morning.
Chris Gayle, who skipped training yesterday afternoon along along with several other senior players including Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, has a huge task in trying to lift his players to go for a win in the final ODI of the series.
Many of the lesser-known Windies players had a two-hour net session which was briefly interrupted by a sand storm.
But coach John Dyson called for the Zayed Cricket Academy's bowling machine as the Windies worked on their batting.
Supporters
As the game is being played on a Sunday and the series is over, it is unlikely Pakistan will have a packed stadium of supporters as they did on Friday but quite a few are expected to cheer their favourites.
With the series won, Malek, who has been under pressure during his captaincy, will try for the 3-0 triumph and show that despite the absence of Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar, his team is getting better.
For Gayle and his teammates, who won a a million dollars each recently after their win in the Stanford series, it will be a fight for pride.
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