West Indies' Jerome Taylor bowls against Pakistan while Mohammad Yousuf (left) watches on the third day of the first cricket Test match at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore yesterday. - Reuters

LAHORE, Pakistan (CMC):

West Indies face an uphill struggle to save the opening Test against Pakistan over the last two days, after Mohammad Yousuf fell eight short of a fifth Test double-hundred and Kamran Akmal hit a stroke-filled 78 to ensure an encouraging morning faded into another rocky road for the visitors.

The West Indies ended day three yesterday wobbling in their second innings at 74 for three.

Captain Brian Lara was not out on 28 and was again burdened with the responsibility of providing a miracle recovery after the careless early loss of Daren Ganga and Chris Gayle, and the third bad decision by Asoka de Silva in successive days cut short a blossoming Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Daren Ganga, lazily heading back to his crease when sent back by Gayle, was run out by a sharp pickup and direct hit from square leg by Imran Farhat.

Five balls later, it was 20 for two as Gayle hung out his bat at one from Umar Gul and gave Akmal a comfortable catch.

Lara arrived with two successive boundaries and Sarwan, too, seemed in good touch early.

The pair took tea at 28 for two and built a confident stand of 36 before umpire de Silva's second dreadful lbw decision against West Indies sent Sarwan packing.

The West Indies vice-captain, who struck five fours in 23 off 36 balls, played back to one that nipped back and hit him high on the top of the pad. Like Gayle's controversial dismissal in the first innings, the ball would have carried comfortably over the stumps.

Nightwatchman Fidel Ed-wards equipped himself well to end another shortened day on five not out.

Five-wicket hero

Umar Gul, Pakistan's five-wicket hero in the West Indies' first innings, claimed two for 39 before bad light stopped play 17 overs early to keep the Caribbean side on the backfoot.

Earlier, Yousuf carried his overnight 113 to 192 and shared a crucial seventh-wicket stand of 148 with wicketkeeper Akmal to rubber-stamp a massive lead of 279.

Fast bowler Jerome Taylor gave the visitors early hope with two wickets inside the first 20 minutes, as the home team resumed on 265 for four.

Shoaib Malik began with two delightful boundaries either side of the wicket to the first two balls he faced from Taylor. But the West Indies fast bowler got revenge in the same over, as Malik clipped a straightforward catch to Dave Mohammed at square leg.

Two overs later, Abdul Razzaq was back in the pavilion at 285 for six, after a bouncer attack from Taylor produced the desired result and the batsman deflected an airy back-foot stroke to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.

Between the two Taylor strikes, Yousuf was let off for the third time, as Lara failed to hang on to a low second slip offering off the luckless, and wicketless, Corey Collymore.

Akmal and Yousuf took Pakistan to lunch without further loss, at 396 for six. By then, Yousuf had passed his 150 and also notched his 1,000th run on his Lahore home turf (joining Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas).

The pair stretched their seventh-wicket stand to 148 before the introduction of the under-rated off-spin of Chris Gayle inspired another good passage for West Indies.

Akmal cracked 13 boundaries off 121 balls in two hours and 40 minutes before he spooned an on-drive to Lara at short mid-wicket to provide Gayle with his 50th Test wicket.

Gayle became just the sixth West Indian spinner to that milestone, joining Lance Gibbs (309), Sonny Ramadhin (158), Alfred Valentine (139), Carl Hooper (114), and David Holford (51).

The cool Jamaican soon had his 51st, and one of his most valuable, when he lured Yousuf forward, beat his outside edge, and had him stumped by Ramdin. Yousuf, falling agonisingly short of another milestone, spent 330 deliveries and almost eight and a half hours in the middle. He struck 24 fours and one six.

Mohammed collected three for 98 from 31 overs with his unorthodox left-arm spin and Chris Gayle snared two for 24 from 10 overs with his uncomplicated off-spin, with Collymore deserving better than none for 63 off 25 overs.