ABU DHABI6 -  Rising star Babar Azam hit his third successive hundred to anchor Pakistan's 3-0 clean-sweep of the West Indies with a comfortable 136-run win in the third and final one-dayer on Wednesday.

Azam smashed a 106-ball 117 while skipper Azah Ali returned to form with a 109-ball 101 as Pakistan compiled 308-6 before restricting West Indies to 172 in 44 overs on a flat Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.

It was another imperious show by Pakistan who won the first two matches by 111 and 59 runs respectively -- both in Sharjah. The rout also followed Pakistan's 3-0 whitewash in the preceding Twenty20 series.

The two sides will go on to contest a three-match Test series starting in Dubai from October 13. The 3-0 ODI whitewash also lifted Pakistan to number eight in the one-day rankings, displacing their opponents to nine. Azam, 21, became the eighth batsmen to make three hundreds in successive one-day internationals and he was again sublime in achieving the milestone. He also set a new record for most runs in a three-match one-day series with 360, beating the previous highest of 342 by South Africa's Quinton de Kock who set it at home in 2013. "Three hundreds in a row doesn't come easy," said Ali. "Everyone fought like tigers, so it feels great."

A disappointed West Indian captain Jason Holder called for improvement. "We haven't been up to scratch in this series," said Holder. "We just really need to work on all aspects of the game."

West Indies again lacked aggression and big partnerships in their innings, with Denesh Ramdin top scoring with 37 and Holder making 26. They also lost their last five wickets for just 13 runs with left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (3-40) and paceman Wahab Riaz taking 2-28. Riaz also reached 100 one-day wickets in his 75th match.

Kraig Brathwaite (32) and Evin Lewis (22) had given the West Indies a solid 45-run start but wickets tubmled at regular intervals, with Darren Bravo (17), Marlon Samuels (13) and Kieron Pollard (11) failing to shine. Earlier Azam led Pakistan's batting, setting his team up for a big total with Ali. Azam was finally bowled by Pollard in the 46th over after hitting eight boundaries and a six in another dominating exhibition of batting.

Ali, who failed in the first two games with a first-ball duck and nine, hit eight boundaries and a six. He and fellow opener Sharjeel Khan (38) put Pakistan on track for a big total with an 85-run start in 14.1 overs

Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn gave the West Indies their first breakthrough, in his second over, when Sharjeel holed out at long-on after hitting five boundaries off 41 balls. Ali and Azam added 147 for the second wicket before Ali was bowled by Holder in the 39th over. Sarfraz Ahmed made 24 not out as Pakistan managed 96 runs in the last 15 overs.

Azam is only the third batsmen from Pakistan and eighth in the world to notch three hundreds in as many matches. Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara holds the record with four centuries in as many games. Pakistan's Zaheer Abbass and Saeed Anwar, South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers and de Kock, and New Zealand's Ross Taylor are others to achieve the milestone.

West Indies play a day-night side game with a pink ball in Sharjah from Friday as a rehearsal for the first Test in Duabi, also a day-night match starting from October 13.

 

 

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Azhar Ali b Holder             101

Sharjeel Khan c Joseph b Benn      38

Babar Azam b Pollard      117

Shoaib Malik c Ramdin b Narine   5

Sarfraz Ahmed not out    24

M Rizwan lbw b Joseph   4

Imad Wasim c Bravo b Joseph      4

M Nawaz not out             4

EXTRAS: (lb7, nb1, w3)    11

TOTAL: (for six wkts; 50 overs)     308

FOW: 1-85, 2-232, 3-239, 4-280, 5-285, 6-303

BOWLING: Joseph 8-0-62-2 (1w), Gabriel 5-0-37-0 (1nb), Brathwaite 4-0-22-0, Holder 10-0-63-1 (2w), Narine 10-0-47-1, Benn 10-0-51-1, Pollard 3-0-19-1

WEST INDIES:

K Brathwaite lbw b Malik               32

E Lewis b Sohail 22

D Bravo c Ahmed b Riaz  17

M Samuels run out           13

D Ramdin run out             37

K Pollard c Malik b Nawaz             11

J Holder b Wasim              26

S Narine st Ahmed b Nawaz          0

S Benn c Sohail b Nawaz 0

A Joseph c Malik b Riaz   2

S Gabriel not out               1

EXTRAS: (b1, lb4, w6)       11

TOTAL: (all out; 44 overs)              172

FOW: 1-45, 2-75, 3-87, 4-93, 5-117, 6-159, 7-161, 8-161, 9-170

BOWLING: Wasim 8-0-29-1, Sohail 7-0-34-1 (3w), Hasan 6-1-13-0, Malik 6-0-23-1 (1w), Nawaz 9-0-40-3, Riaz 8-0-28-2 (1w)

TOSS: Pakistan

UMPIRES: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI) and Ahsan Raza (PAK)

TV UMPIRE: Sundaram Ravi (IND)

MATCH REFEREE: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

 

 

consecutive tons in ODis

Player 100s Runs Team Opposition Match Date

KC Sangakkara 4 105* Sri Lanka v Bangladesh 26 Feb 2015
117* Sri Lanka v England 1 Mar 2015
104 Sri Lanka v Australia 8 Mar 2015
124 Sri Lanka v Scotland 11 Mar 2015
Zaheer Abbas 3 118 Pakistan v India 17 Dec 1982
105 Pakistan v India 31 Dec 1982
113 Pakistan v India 21 Jan 1983
Saeed Anwar 3 107 Pakistan v Sri Lanka 30 Oct 1993
131 Pakistan v West Indies 1 Nov 1993
111 Pakistan v Sri Lanka 2 Nov 1993
HH Gibbs 3 116 South Africa v Kenya 20 Sep 2002
116* South Africa v India 25 Sep 2002
153 South Africa v Bangladesh 3 Oct 2002
AB de Villiers 3 114* South Africa v India 24 Feb 2010
102* South Africa v India 27 Feb 2010
102 South Africa v West Indies 22 May 2010
Q de Kock 3 135 South Africa v India 5 Dec 2013
106 South Africa v India 8 Dec 2013
101 South Africa v India 11 Dec 2013
LRPL Taylor 3 112* New Zealand v India 28 Jan 2014
102 New Zealand v India 31 Jan 2014
105* New Zealand v Pakistan 8 Dec 2014
Babar Azam 3 120 Pakistan v West Indies 30 Sep 2016
123 Pakistan v West Indies 2 Oct 2016
117 Pakistan v West Indies 5 Oct 2016