Afridi leads from front in Pakistan triumph

Thursday, 24 March 2011 00:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

* Hafeez shines with bat and ball

* West Indies collapse against potent Pakistanis

DHAKA, (Reuters) - Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi led from the front again to inspire his team to a 10-wicket victory over West Indies in the first World Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.

Afridi took four for 30 as West Indies collapsed to 112 all out from 43.3 overs to take his total to 21 for the tournament and overhaul Imran Khan’s Pakistan record at a single World Cup.

Man-of-the-match Mohammad Hafeez, who had taken two cheap wickets with his off-spin, then scored his maiden World Cup half-century with 61 not out as Pakistan reached their victory target from only 20.5 overs.

They will face the winners of Thursday’s match between defending champions Australia and co-hosts India in the second semi-final in Mohali on March 30.

“Personally I just tried to maintain line and length, these were perfect conditions for spinners if you bowled in the right areas,” Afridi told a television interviewer.

“In each game we’ve tried to make some plans against the players and we tried to stick to our plans and the boys have done a great job doing that. The bowlers have done a great job from the first game to the seventh game.”

Nothing went in West Indies’ favour who, after a pathetic batting display, were also poor in the field with Kieron Pollard dropping Kamran Akmal on six before wicketkeeper Devon Thomas grassed Hafeez on 17. Kemar Roach was the unlucky bowler on both occasions.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the only batsman to defy the Pakistan attack, scoring an unbeaten 44 from 106 balls.

WICKETS IN CLUSTERS

West Indies, the 1975 and 1979 champions, never recovered after losing their first three wickets with only 16 on the board.

After Darren Sammy had won the toss and elected to bat, Chris Gayle (8) struck Umar Gul straight to Afridi at mid-off. Devon Smith (7) and Darren Bravo (0) both fell lbw in the space of four balls to Hafeez, who had shared the new ball.

The experienced Guyana pair of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul took the total to 58 before Sarwan was caught by Umar Akmal off Afridi for 24.

Afridi then dismissed Pollard (one) and Devon Thomas off consecutive balls.

Sammy was dropped by Younus Khan at slip off Saeed Ajmal on one but lasted only one more ball before he was lbw to the off-spinner. Two balls later, Ajmal bowled Devendra Bishoo for a duck.

Roach recorded his best one-day score of 16, helping Chanderpaul to add 30 for the ninth wicket.

“Definitely not enough runs on the board,” said Sammy.

“They bowled well at us. We didn’t counter the bowling well and hence we were bowled out for a low total.

“We lost wickets in clusters to spin through the tournament and today was no different. We were on the backfoot early and never recovered.”