Mohammad Yousuf basks in record glory

by admin
November 28th, 2006

Mohammad Yousuf set a batting record with his eighth hundred of 2006 but West Indies restricted Pakistan to 257 for 7 at close of play on the first day of the third and final Test.Pakistan lost four wickets for 83 in the last session on Monday, including that of Yousuf who made 102, his 22nd career century.
Yousuf broke the old record of seven hundreds in a calendar year jointly held by West Indian Vivian Richards and Sri Lankan, Aravinda de Silva.It was also Yousuf ’s sixth century against the West Indies in eight Tests and his fifth in successive matches. The 32-year-old has accumulated 1,664 runs in 11 Tests this year.

Pakistan were comfortably placed on 174 for 3 at tea. Inzamam’s dismissal in the third over after tea was the catalyst for the mini collapse. The persistence of West Indian bowlers Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore, Daren Powell and Dwayne Bravo paid dividends as Inzamam-ul-Haq (18), Shoaib Malik (18), Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq (7) fell to careless shots.

Mohammad Yousuf, with his hundred (102) on Monday, established a world record for most centuries (8) in a calendar year, surpassing the feats of West Indian, Viv Richards — 7 in 1976 and Sri Lankan Aravinda de Silva — 7 in 1997. Yousuf is now the third batsman in the history of Test Cricket to have recorded five centuries in successive Tests, joining Sir Donald Bradman’s six centuries between 1936-37 and 1938 and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis during 2003-04. Yousuf’s sequence of eight tons