da dobrowin： Flowers bloomed in the desert but Pakistan inspired by thedeadly duo Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis saw their team homeby 29 runs to make sure of place in Sunday’s Khaleej TimesTrophy final against Sri Lanka here at the Sharjah StadiumWednesday
da dobrowin： Rehan Siddiqui01-Nov-2001Flowers bloomed in the desert but Pakistan inspired by thedeadly duo Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis saw their team homeby 29 runs to make sure of place in Sunday’s Khaleej TimesTrophy final against Sri Lanka here at the Sharjah StadiumWednesday night.While the Flower brothers, Grant and Andy were at thecrease, an upset seemed a likely result. But once demonbowler Wasim Akram removed Andy (48) and Dion Ebrahim in oneover the match swung towards Pakistan as Zimbabwe sufferedtheir 16 straight loss in One-day Internationals since June.The two joined hands at Zimbabwe 13 for two, Waqar removingTrevor Gripper and Stuart Carlisle in his fourth over.However, Grant who had a miserable time in the tournament,survived a torrid opening spell from Wasim and Andy got ontop of Pakistan attack to give their side a fair chance ofvictory with their record breaking third wicket stand worth146.The prospect of an unpset victory diminished when GrantFlower was unluckily run out, while backing up at thebowler’s end, for a splendid 91 that earned him Man-of-the-Match award.Soon after Abdur Razzaq, hammered all over the place byFlower brothers, got into the act and dismissed Heath Streakand Sean Ervine to plunge Zimbabwe to 175 for seven, thelast five wickets falling for just 16 runs.Zimbabwe hopes were revived once again by Doug Marillier andGary Brent but Waqar ended any hopes of African nation ofwin by having the former splendidly caught by Azhar Mahmood.Wasim and Waqar each claimed three wickets, the formerconceding 19 and the latter 40 while Razzaq chipped in withtwo for 48.After Thursday’s rest day, Pakistan face Sri Lanka in thedress rehearsal Friday.Earlier when Pakistan batted after Waqar won the toss forthird successive time it were the two Pathans, Shahid Afridiand Younis Khan, who ensured a decent total for the bowlersto bowl at.Shahid in his most belligerent mood clobbered six sixes andtwo fours in his rapid 58 off only 36 deliveries whileYounis’s 59 required 81 balls and managed just two fours ina restrained knock.While Shahid needed only 34 balls to reach his fifty – thefastest so far in the tournament – he was particularlysevere on Gary Brent uptil this match the most economicalZimbabwe bowler – hitting him two successive sixes the firsttwo deliveries he faced and then repeated the dose in themedium pacer’s next over.Pakistan, making four changes from the side that whippedZimbabwe in their first encounter giving everyone a chancebefore the dress rehearsal and the final against Sri LankaSunday.In came opener Naved Latif, all-rounder Azhar Mahmood,Inzamam-ul-Haq back in the side after the two-match ban andleg-spinner Danish Kaneria in place of a disappointingTaufiq Umer, Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik and Saeed Anwar.Apart from the Khans, Yousuf Youhana (41) and Azhar Mahmood(29) made useful contributions while Inzamam struck on thebox by Henry Olonga had to retire but returned with a runnerto make 21.Zimbabwe, an excellent fielding side, had a poor day.Inzamam was dropped twice, Shahid was put down at 45 andOlonga was guilty of not attempting to make an effort tocatch an Azhar Mahmood on-drive.
