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Dutch fall to Waqar display

Pakistan (151-2) beat Holland (145-7) by 8 wkts

Waqar Younis, back to his menacing best, bowled Pakistan to their second victory in the space of three days yesterday. The former Surrey player, who was named man of the match, took four for 26 as Holland found themselves restricted to 145 for seven from 50 overs in the group B game.

Saeed Anwar then scored an unbeaten 83 as the defending champions reached their target with eight wickets and 19.2 overs to spare. Waqar removed Peter Cantrell for 17 and proceeded to dismiss Tim de Leede for a duck in the space of three balls before he was rested with Holland reeling at 29 for three.

The Dutch then staged something of a rally with Klaas Noortwijk and Flavian Aponso, 43, taking the total to 102 before Noortwijk skied Aqib Javed to Somerset's Mustaq Ahmed in the covers. Left- hander Aponso top-scored with 58, including a six and three fours, before Waqar knocked out his leg stump with his inswinging yorker.

Waqar took his final wicket when he bowled acting captain Roland Lefebvre, of Glamorgan, for 10, confirming he was back to his best after an indifferent tour of Australia and New Zealand. Waqar was the pick of an impressive Pakistani attack in which no bowler conceded more than three runs an over.

``Waqar has finally got into his rhythm which is a good sign for us,'' said captain Wasim Akram, of Lancashire. Wasim himself went wicketless, conceding 30 runs, but he could have finished with four victims after beating the bat repeatedly. Aqib Javed captured two for 25 from nine overs, and the fielding, often Pakistan's weak point, was sharp and sure. The Pakistanis did, though, concede six no- balls, effectively giving Holland an extra over.

Pakistan overcame the early loss of Aamir Sohail, who fell for nine in the fifth over to Lefebvre, and Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed put their team on the road to victory with a 94-run second wicket partnership from 123 balls. Ijaz was caught in the deep by Lefebvre off Cantrell for 39, which included two fours and a huge six.

Then Anwar brought up his eighth fifty in 84 one-day internationals with his sixth boundary after batting for 90 minutes and 75 balls.

He finished the match with his third six, lofting Erik Gouka over long-on.

Kenya were deprived of a good chance of a surprise win over Zimbabwe when rain washed out their Group A match. The match will be played today. Zimbabwe were 45 for three after 15.5 overs when a heavy storm caused play to be abandoned much to the disappointment of a capacity 32,000 crowd.

Man of the match: Waqar Younis