Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf hit a record eighth Test century in a calendar year before the West Indies fought back hard Monday on the first day of the third and final Test.

Yousuf smashed 15 elegant fours in his four-hour innings of 102 runs, but the West Indies claimed four wickets in the last session to restrict Pakistan to 257-7 at stumps on a low bouncy National Stadium wicket.

Kamran Akmal was batting on 18 while Shahid Nazir was yet to score when poor light ended the day's play two overs before the scheduled close.

Fast bowler Corey Collymore trapped Yousuf lbw off a delivery that kept low as he attempted a pull shot and completely missed the line.

``The pitch is difficult for batsmen because the ball is keeping low from the very first day,'' Yousuf said. ``It's a very slow wicket and a batsman has to be extra cautious.''

The brilliant form of Yousuf this year saw the right-hander score two centuries against India in the home series before registering another three against England in summer. His prolific form continued against the West Indies when he compiled centuries in the first two Tests at Lahore and Multan.

Yousuf drove Daren Powel to mid on for three runs to complete his 22nd Test century off 155 balls and became the first batsman in Test history to score eight centuries in a year.

Viv Richards (West Indies) and Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) jointly held the previous record when they scored seven centuries in 1976 and 1997 respectively from 11 Test matches each.

``I can't match the shots of Richards,'' Yousuf said. ``Beating the record of Richards is a big thing for me because he's the best player of this era.''

Yousuf also closed in on Richards' 30-year-old record of most Test runs in a calendar year. Richards made 1,710 runs in 11 Test matches and Yousuf needs another 47 in the second innings to break the mark.

``Lots of people have told me about this record, too, and I will try to break it in the second innings,'' Yousuf said.

The rest of the Pakistan batsmen struggled to negotiate the tricky bounce of the wicket and build big partnerships with Yousuf.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik both scored 18 runs each before they fell in the last session. Inzamam gave part-time off-spinner Daren Ganga his first Test wicket when he played a reckless shot and was caught at mid-off, while Malik fell lbw to paceman Jerome Taylor.

Yousuf had a reprieve on 63 just before tea when wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin failed to catch a thin edge from a Chris Gayle ball as Pakistan progressed to 174-3.

The West Indies bowlers could get only one wicket in the second session when Dwayne Bravo enticed Imran Farhat (47) to drive a wide delivery and edged to Ramdin.

Earlier, Collymore bowled Mohammad Hafeez (18) in his fifth over with a good length delivery that nipped back into the right-handed opener to leave Pakistan at 26-1 after Inzamam won the toss and elected to bat.

Younis Khan struggled for an hour to score a dogged 20 runs before he was brilliantly run out by paceman Daren Powell with some sharp fielding off his own follow through.

Lara turned to Gayle's off-spin as early as the ninth over of the match and the off-spinner bowled three maiden overs in a row with Collymore also matching him from the other end.

Pakistan leads the series 1-0 after its nine-wicket victory in the first Test, while the second Test ended in a draw.

© The Canadian Press, 2007