India's tour of West Indies

First Test, Georgetown, day two:
West Indies 1st innings 494-7 at the close v India.

West Indies captain Carl Hooper smashed 233 runs for his maiden Test double century as West Indies tightened their grip at Bourda.

Hooper - who had waited 15 years to score his first Test hundred on his home ground - hit spinner Sarandeep Singh to long-on for his 27th boundary to reach 203 not out at tea.

Hooper was eventually caught by Singh in the deep off fellow spinner Anil Kumble after facing 402 balls.

Play was called off 22 overs early for rain and bad light and will resume half an hour earlier on Saturday.

Match report | Scorecard

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West Indies' captain Carl Hooper who scored his first century on home ground on the opening day of the first Test against India said he hoped to extend his unbeaten 113-run partnerhip with Shivnarine Chanderpaul gunning for a big first innings total of 500.

"It is very important to get big partnerships. I really need to extend this partnership with (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul. It is very important that we get to somewhere near 400 in order to put some pressure on the Indians," said Hooper, who hammered an unbeaten 108 to pull his team out of trouble from 44 for 3.

Hooper said he has been emphasising all this while on his young wards to build up big partnerships.

Sharjah

Sharjah Cup, match four:
Sri Lanka 239-5 (50 overs) beat Pakistan 230-5 (50 overs) by nine runs.

Sri Lanka's bowlers held their nerve in the closing overs to secure a narrow win for their side in a gripping climax to the fourth match of the triangular competition.

Pakistan looked poised for victory with only 23 needed off the final four overs, but Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Nuwan Zoysa did not allow a single boundary.

Veteran Wasim Akram did his best with an unbeaten 36 off 29 balls but it was not enough as Pakistan fell short of what appeared to be a relatively modest target.

He had earlier reached 450 wickets in one-day internationals by taking two for 30, but a stand of 107 for Sri Lanka between Marvan Atapattu (77 not out) and Upul Chandana (64) ultimately proved decisive.

Miscellaneous

The verbal onslaught Graeme Smith was subjected to during the second Test at Newlands was the worst he ever experienced, South Africa's new one-day hero, said.

Smith (21) ended with the second-best South African batting average in the one-day series (244 runs at 61 per innings) after taking over from his celebrated Western Province opening partner, Gary Kirsten.

He also acquitted himself well in his two Test appearances. He made his 68 in his first Test at Newlands under a continual barrage of Aussie sledging.

"I cannot repeat what the Aussies said. It was below the belt and insulting," Smith said.

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