Afridi dazzles as Pakistan
make final
Dashing batsman Shahid Afrid slammed 108 off 92 balls as Pakistan beat New Zaland by eight wickets in the Sharjah Cup on Monday.
Chasing New Zealand's paltry score of 213 for 9, Pakistan were home in 31.3 of the 49 overs, scoring 217 for the loss of two wickets.
The victory gave Pakistan a place in Wednesday's final, where they will meet Sri Lanka.
Imran Nazir and Afridi gave Pakistan a rollicking start, putting on 101 runs before the former was out for 57, caught by Sinclair off the bowling of Walker.
Yousuf Youhana joined Afridi and made a quick 24 off 29 ball before becoming Walker's second victim.
Afridi then ran away with the match as he hit the Kiwis to all parts of the ground. His 108 contained seven fours and eight sixes.
Earlier, Nathan Astle and Matt Horne hammered 75 for the first
wicket off just 11.5 overs before Pakistan grabbed four
wickets in the space of four runs to ruin the bright start.
Chris Harris (35) and Scott Styris (43) boosted the total
but the advantage lay with Pakistan as off-spinner Saqlain
Mushtaq and seamer Wasim Akram grabbed three wickets each.
New Zealand's injury woes continued as frontline batsman
Craig McMillan joined wicket-keeper Chris Nevin on the
sidelines with a foot injury.
The Kiwis were already depleted by the absence of six
injured players, including star all-rounder Chris Cairns,
batsman Lou Vincent and main spinner Daniel Vettori.
Horne (27) and Astle (36) came good for the first time in
the tournament, tearing apart the dreaded pace attack of Akram
and captain Waqar Younis.
Saqlain put an end to the mayhem by removing both openers
in successive overs.
Saqlain took a low return catch to get rid of Horne,
while Waqar judged a skier superbly at mid-on to remove Astle.
Tearaway Shoaib Akhtar knocked back Matthew Sinclair's
stumps and when Jacob Oram was run out due to skipper Stephen
Fleming's hesitation, New Zealand were reduced to 79 for four.
Fleming himself was trapped leg-before by Abdul Razzaq
for 12, while Akram ended Harris' effort by having him trapped
leg-before.
Andre Adams, making his first appearance in the
tournament, hit 20 off 28 balls, including a six into the
stands at long-on off Waqar.
Mail Cricket Editor
