Windies rocked by Morkel's bowling

SHIVNARINE Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine were left to pick up the pieces after Morne Morkel's early triple strike left West Indies' top order in tatters on day three of the first Test at Port-of-Spain against South Africa.

Morkel removed Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash and skipper Chris Gayle in three consecutive overs to leave the Windies reeling at 12 for three inside the opening hour. It was the worst possible start after West Indies began the chase of the Proteas' 352 yesterday morning, but Chanderpaul (24 not out) and Deonarine (27no) dug in to see them through to lunch at 65 for three.

Dowlin (four) was the first batsman to fall when he fended at a delivery from Morkel that South Africa captain Graeme Smith caught low down at first slip. Morkel was then on a hat-trick when he removed Nash (one) with the first ball of his next over.

Chanderpaul kept out the hat-trick ball but things soon got worse for the home side when Gayle (six) misjudged a length delivery and chopped on to his middle stump.

At 12 for three the pressure was on veteran Chanderpaul and Deonarine, playing just his sixth Test, but together they thwarted the Proteas attack in an unbeaten 53-run stand to settle the home nerves.

A quickfire 37 from all-rounder Yusuf Pathan and three wickets for paceman Vinay Kumar helped India to a six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the first of two Twenty20 internationals at Harare Sports Club.

Chasing 112 for victory, India – bolstered by an impressive performance in the outfield – were able to knock off the runs easily. Indian openers Murali Vijay and Naman Ojha failed to provide a positive start, both falling to catches in the first and third overs respectively, off Chris Mpofu's bowling.

Captain Suresh Raina was quick to respond to the crisis, knocking boundaries and sixes with aplomb to steady the innings, with Rohit Sharma providing effective support. Their 35-run partnership ended when spinner Ray Price struck twice in the eighth over – Raina lobbing an easy catch to Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura, while Sharma was beaten by the flight and stumped as a result. It was down to all-rounder Pathan, who hit three sixes and two boundaries in his 24-ball knock, and Virat Kohli (26 from 21 balls) to guide India home with five overs to spare.

Earlier, after opting to field first, India made a flying start with Kumar forcing Hamilton Masakadza to give an easy catch in the very first over. Kumar was then hit for a boundary and back-to-back sixes in the third over, before picking up his second wicket in the form of Brendan Taylor.

Following a well-made 40 from 30 deliveries, including five fours and a six, hard-hitting Chamu Chibhabha finally departed lbw to Piyush Chawla.

Zimbabwe were then dealt a double blow in the 14th over by Pragyan Ojha – first Chigumbura's mistimed slog found Vijay at long leg, and then Greg Lamb was sent home from his first ball, snared lbw.

Dinda was next to pick up two wickets in quick succession, bowling out both Craig Irvine and Price in the penultimate over, before Kumar knocked Prosper Utseya's stumps off in the 20th to pick up his third wicket of the game.