Brian Lara cracked his 19th century in his 250th one-day international to steer West Indies to a 58-run win over Pakistan in their triangular series match at Adelaide Oval on Friday.

Lara demolished the Pakistan bowlers with a brutal 156 off 138 balls guide his team to 339 for nine from their 50 overs, the highest total in a one-dayer at Adelaide Oval.

Pakistan batted strongly to make 281 for nine in reply but still fell well short of their target allowing West Indies to leapfrog them into second place in the series standings behind Australia.

Lara struck 12 fours and five massive sixes to post his second-highest score in one-day internationals and the highest by any player at Adelaide Oval.

The West Indies captain also shared a 187-run partnership with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who made 85 after Ramnaresh Sarwan retired hurt when he was struck on the elbow.

Lara began cautiously after West Indies openers Chris Gayle and Ricardo Powell fell cheaply, but exploded after reaching triple figures.

The world record holder for the highest score in tests smashed his last 56 runs off just 21 balls as West Indies piled on 122 off the last 10 overs, before he was bowled by off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez in the penultimate over.

Pakistan made a terrible start to their reply when Salman Butt was out for one in the second over and although Mohammad Hafeez (41), Inzamam-ul-Haq (30), Yousuf Youhana (45), Abdul Razzaq (44) and Azhar Mahmood (40 not out) all made starts, no-one was able to replicate the feats of Lara.

Pakistan need to win one of their two remaining matches to overtake West Indies for a place in the final. They play Australia in Perth on Sunday then West Indies two days later.

The best-of-three finals series between the top two teams starts in Melbourne next Friday.

Scorecard

West Indies
C.Gayle b Iftikhar Anjum 9
R.Powell lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan 23
R.Sarwan retired hurt 2
B.Lara b Mohammad Hafeez 156
S.Chanderpaul c Mohammad Hafeez b Shahid Afridi 85
W.Hinds not out 30
D.Bravo not out 3
Extras (b-1 lb-9 w-10 nb-11) 31

Total (for four wickets, 50 overs) 339

Fall of wickets: 1-17 2-56 3-243 4-327

Did not bat: C.Browne, I.Bradshaw, P.Collins, R.King

Bowling: Naved-ul-Hasan 9-0-77-1 (nb-10 w-3), Iftikhar Anjum 9-1-50-1 (w-1), Azhar Mahmood 9-1-63-0, Abdul Razzaq 10-0-41-0 (nb-1), Shahid Afridi 10-0-64-1 (w-2), Mohammad Hafeez 3-0-34-1

Pakistan
Salman Butt c Chanderpaul b Bradshaw 1
Kamran Akmal b Hinds 19
Mohammad Hafeez c sub (Samuels) b King 41
Shoaib Malik b King 7
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Bravo b Hinds 30
Yousuf Youhana run out 45
Abdul Razzaq c Lara b Bravo 44
Shahid Afridi c Browne b Bravo 17
Azhar Mahmood not out 40
Naved-ul-Hasan b Powell 10
Iftikhar Anjum not out 7

Extras (lb-7 w-12 nb-1) 20

Total (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 281

Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-65 3-65 4-87 5-107 6-182 7-206 8-219 9-254

Bowling: Collins 4-1-13-0, Bradshaw 8-0-44-1 (nb-1 w-3), King 10-0-51-2, Hinds 10-0-62-2, Bravo 10-0-39-2 (w-2), Powell 4-0-30-1 (w-1), Gayle 4-0-35-0 (w-2)

Result: West Indies won by 58 runs

Man of the match: Brian Lara (West Indies)