Pakistan thrash Windies to grab 1-0 lead

Babar Azam hit his maiden international century while spinner Mohammad Nawaz grabbed four wickets as Pakistan thrashed the West Indies by 111 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the first one-day international in Sharjah.

Azam's 139-ball 120 helped Pakistan post a challenging 9-284 in a match reduced to 49 overs a side due to a 70-minute floodlight failure.

West Indies, set 287 to win, never got close and folded at 175 in 38.4 overs.

The victory gives Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, building on their 3-0 whitewash in the Twenty20 series.

The win lifted Pakistan ahead of India to second in overall one-day international wins with 455 in 864 matches, behind only Australia (full list below).

Like in the Twenty20 matches, the West Indian batsmen had little clue against Pakistan's spin bowling, with only Marlon Samuels (46) and Johnson Charles (20) offering any resistance.

Nawaz steamed through the batting with figures of 4-42 in his ten overs, easily his best bowling figures in his sixth ODI.

Nawaz had Darren Bravo (12), Denesh Ramdin (8), Kieron Pollard (9) and Carlos Brathwaite (15) in an incisive spell of spin bowling to rock the tourists.

Samuels hit two sixes and a four in his 59-ball fight but was finally bowled by fast bowler Wahab Riaz in the 34th over.

Sunil Narine (23) and Sulieman Benn (16 not out) added 31 for the ninth wicket but it was too little, too late and medium pacer Hasan Ali ended the innings with figures of 3-14.

"I knew what is my part and so I batted with responsibility," said the 21-year-old Azam.

"Once I got set my plan was to bat through but I was caught at the boundary."

West Indian captain Jason Holder blamed poor batting for his side's demise.

"We didn't bat well, especially against spin," said Holder. "We have to adjust and improve quickly."

Red-hot Azam added 82 for the second wicket with Sharjeel Khan (54) and 99 for the fourth wicket with Sarfraz Ahmed (35) after Pakistan were sent into bat on a flat pitch.

Pakistan were 6-260 after 44.3 overs when a floodlight failure stopped play for over an hour.

Azam hit eight boundaries and three sixes in a commanding knock before he was smartly caught one-handed by Pollard at long-on boundary, lobbing the ball inside as he was going over the ropes to complete a stunning catch.

Azam's two strong partnerships laid the foundation after they lost skipper Azhar Ali off the first ball of the match, caught behind off paceman Shannon Gabriel.

Sharjeel hit six boundaries and three sixes in an aggressive 43-ball knock before miscuing a drive off spinner Benn and was caught at short third man.

Paceman Brathwaite was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with 3-54.

The second match will also be played in Sharjah, on Sunday, while the third will be in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Most ODI wins in history (top 10 nations)

• Australia - 547 from 884 matches (64.73 per cent)
• Pakistan - 455 from 864 (54.25 per cent)
• India - 454 from 899 (53.19 per cent)
• West Indies - 376 from 742 (52.92 per cent)
• Sri Lanka - 365 from 777 (49.46 per cent)
• South Africa - 344 from 560 (63.78 per cent)
• England - 326 from 674 (50.69 per cent)
• New Zealand - 311 from 703 (47.21 per cent)
• Zimbabwe - 122 from 474 (26.83 per cent)
• Bangladesh - 99 from 314 (31.93 per cent)