The West Indies survived an injury scare to captain Brian Lara to beat Pakistan by seven wickets and earn a place in today's ICC Champions Trophy Final.
Lara's side will meet England at the Oval after a comfortable win with more than 20 overs to spare in overcast conditions at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.
PHOTO: AFP
Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq made a big mistake choosing to bat first and watched as his side struggled from the start to be bowled out for 131 in the 39th over.
PHOTO: AFP
The West Indians had an easy target of 132 and, thanks to a dogged half-century from Ramnaresh Sarwan, got home in only 28.1 overs.
Sarwan came in with his team in some trouble at 20-2 in the fifth over with fast bowler Shoaib Ahktar having dismissed openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds but he put on a match-winning 82 for the third wicket with Lara in 20 overs.
Lara had scored 31 with five boundaries when he took his eye off a sharp rising delivery from Akhtar at more than 145kph, almost treading on his wicket as a result.
Lara was struck on the neck and lay motionless in his crease for several minutes as he received treatment from West Indies physio Andrew Simpson before being forced to leave the field with the score 76 for two
Simpson said later that Lara had suffered a short spell of dizziness and slight headache after leaving the ground, but he had been cleared of any serious injury by the ground medical doctor.
He will remain under observation in the coming days but is expected to lead his team in today's final.
"He is one of my favorite batsmen ever since I became involved in cricket," said a contrite Shoaib, who was the first player to go down and see how Lara was.
"I am sorry. Maybe I was a little bit excited as in eight previous matches I never bowled against him before and I am sorry I hit him."
The West Indies lost Shivnarine Chanderpaul to a catch in the deep but Ricardo Powell helped Sarwan knock off the remaining 30 runs to give their side a surprisingly easy win.
Sarwan hit a six and six fours in his unbeaten 56 while Akhtar finished with figures of 2-18 from seven hostile overs.
Inzamama laid the blame at the door of himself and the other batsmen.
"The batsmen did not take their responsibility and should have made 200 to make it hard for them, but 131 was far too few," he said.
He did take some heart from the overall performances during the series which included a win over bitter rivals India.
"The bowlers did very well throughout the series, but it is disappointing not to make the final."
Sarwan, who was named man of the match and stepped in for Lara at the prizegiving ceremony, said he had been surprised by Inzamam's decision to bat.
"We were surprised they went into bat in the first place," he said.
He said he was delighted with his form with the bat but said it had not all been just down to him.
"I have been playing pretty well and hopefully keep the same form for next year.
"However the bowlers did a great job and all in all it was a great team effort.
"We haven't won anything in quite a while and I think the psychological advantage will be with us having got to the triangular one-day final earlier in the season at the expense of England."
Pakistan had a morning to regret after Inzamam had won the toss and never recovered after losing debut-making teenager Salman Butt to the third ball of the day as he edged Ian Bradshaw to second slip where Sarwan held the catch.
There was a brief revival while Yasir Hameed and Shoaib Malik were putting on 64 for the second wicket in conditions ideal for seam bowling.
But from the moment Hameed was run out by a throw from Dwayne Bravo at deep point going for a second run Pakistan collapsed.
They lost their last nine wickets for 66 runs against a combination of West Indian pace and slow bowling.
Inzamam offered brief resistance with a 44-ball innings of 21 before he was caught behind by Courtney Browne off Wavell Hinds.
Hameed was top scorer with 39, which included six boundaries, but Pakistan didn't help their cause with another run out and a stumping.
Once again, Bravo's accurate throw from deep point to Browne accounted for Abdul Razzaq while Shahid Afridi was stumped going down the wicket to Chris Gayle, one ball after hitting the same bowler for the only six of the innings.
Corey Collymore returned for a second spell to bowl Rana Naved and Mohammad Sami to precipitate the Pakistani collapse in which the last seven batsman added only 31 runs.
Yousuf Youhana, on whom much depended, made only 12 before Bravo induced an edge to Browne and there was little resistance to appease a disappointed crowd of 7,000 of whom many were Pakistan supporters.
Collymore and Bravo each took two wickets as did slow bowler Wavell Hinds.
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