New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and elected to bat in bright, sunny weather at Old Trafford, with conditions absolutely perfect for the first semi-final. Wasim Akram began inauspiciously with a wide, but Shoaib’s raw pace troubled the Kiwi’s opening duo early on, with Matt Horne twice surviving thick edges which looped over the slips and down towards third man.

The pair seemed determined to try and survive Pakistan’s opening Salvo, but Shoaib was clocking 94 mph and Wasim was beating Astle’s outside edge seemingly at will. Astle never looked comfortable, and in the sixth over he was beaten and bowled by a ball of ferocious pace from Shoaib, which moved back in, nicked the inside edge and knocked back his leg stump.

Horne played New Zealand’s first serious attacking stroke of the day in the seventh over, when he cracked Wasim powerfully past point to the boundary. After that he and his new partner McMillan both seemed to decide that caution was the order of the day and concentrated on looking for singles, mainly behind the wicket. The bowlers were finding some movement in the air and off the seam, but tended to pitch too short at times.

Pakistan took their second wicket in the eleventh over when McMillan, flashing outside off stump with a touch of desperation after scoring only three runs off 19 balls, touched a ball to the keeper with the total on 38.

Horne appeared to be settling in, and he leg-glanced Abdur neatly to the fine-leg boundary to take the total past 40, and then on-drove him off the front foot for another four.

Abdur then bowled him a fine delivery to beat him just outside off stump. At the Warwick Road End Saqlain replaced Wasim, and Horne swept him for four, choosing the gap well. At last New Zealand showed signs of taking control, although Fleming was still feeling his way.

A faster ball from Abdur beat Horne as he tried to work it on the leg side, rapping him on the pad, but it appeared to be moving in too sharply to hit the stumps. Then Abdur did the trick. He swung the ball in late through the gate as the batsman groped desperately for it, and uprooted the middle stump ­ a superb delivery. Horne made 35 and had looked well set, and New Zealand were now struggling on 58 for three in the sixteenth over as the players took drinks.

Fleming seemed to decide that he now needed to take the initiative himself, and after a single by Twose he clipped Abdur through midwicket for a stylish four, and began to look for the drive. Twose began his innings positively, but it was not quite the Twose who had held the New Zealand middle order together earlier during the tournament as he looked rather uncertain, especially outside the off stump.

Abdur tested Fleming with a good over, the last of his spell, and the New Zealand captain struggled until he reached the other end and swung Saqlain away for four. Azhar began his spell by straying outside off stump; Ijaz twice made fine saves before Twose got the ball past him to the boundary, and next ball played an inelegant heave across the line which earned him a single to long on.

Fleming’s response to Azhar was to off-drive him to the boundary. When Twose drove Saqlain through the covers for four, New Zealand looked to be forging ahead again. Fleming turned a ball from Shahid Afridi past square leg for two to bring up the hundred in the twenty-fifth over, but then groped for two successive balls which beat him outside off stump.

The match went through a quiet period, as tight Pakistan bowling and fielding was countered by steady New Zealand batting, with Fleming and Twose playing the ball around the field for ones and twos, forsaking all extravagances.

Saqlain believed he had Fleming lbw on 27, pinned on the back foot, but Umpire Hair disagreed in what appeared to be a very close decision.

Wasim now brought back Shoaib, to a roar from the crowd. Twose immediately got him away for two past square leg, and then down to fine leg for another couple. Shoaib, however, beat him twice outside off stump. In his next over Fleming played him off the back foot with perfect timing past cover to record the first boundary off the bat for a long while. Two balls later he cut Shoaib to third man for another boundary, thanks to a misfield by Inzamam, who received a roasting from the crowd. Another misfield gave Twose two through mid-on but, just as New Zealand looked like taking control, Shoaib slipped in a thunderous yorker which blasted Fleming’s leg stump from the ground. He had made an invaluable 41 in a partnership of 94.

Cairns took a while to get the measure of the bowling, but finally cracked a rather inelegant four through sheer brute force past the bowler Azhar. Twose was next to depart, never looking really convincing but hanging on well for his 46.

He cut a ball from Abdur into the gully, where Ijaz dived to his right to take a brilliant catch. Harris came in and soon initiated some brisk running between the wickets. The pace began to liven up as New Zealand neared the end of their innings.

The 200 came up in the 45th over when Cairns drove a half-volley loosener from Wasim, beginning his second and final spell, through extra cover for four. Shoaib, at the other end, brought back a cunningly disguised slower ball beautifully from outside off stump to bowl Harris for 16, leaving New Zealand on 209 for six in the 46th over.

Parore had to dig out a yorker first ball, but he did not last long. Backing away to hit Wasim on the off side in the next over, he was bowled by a ball that just flicked his off bail enough to make it fall, almost posthumously. He failed to score, and New Zealand were 211 for seven. Wasim began with two wides to Nash, and then beat him outside off stump.

Cairns timed a half volley from Shoaib neatly through extra cover for four. In Wasim’s next over Inzamam won a round of applause from a slightly cynical crowd for some good fielding which turned an off-drive by Cairns from four into two. Otherwise New Zealand found it hard to pierce the field but scored through well-placed strokes and excellent running.

Cairns, trying to keep the bowling in the final over, bowled by Shoaib, might have been run out with a better throw from third man but, after a single, it was Nash who managed to hit a four through the vacant long-off position. Another run-out chance was missed the following ball, as he tried to run two without checking whether Cairns was interested, and then just scampered home for a two from the final ball.

Pakistan made a steady start to their chase for 242, with the first boundary coming in the second over as Saeed cut Nash for four, a stroke he repeated in Nash’s next over. He continued to make most of the early running, but Wasti finally made an impact with a sweet clip off his toes off Allott to the long-leg boundary, and then an effortless square drive to the point boundary. In Nash’s next over he clipped him through midwicket for his third four, and in this form looks a very classy player indeed.

Wasti turned his attention to Allott, twice hitting him through the off-side field for superb fours and now overtaking Saeed, just as he had done in Pakistan’s previous match against Zimbabwe. He did have a narrow escape when Cairns replaced Allott, though, skying a ball just out of reach of mid-on. Cairns and Larsen at least stopped the flow of boundaries, but the batsmen kept the score ticking over at four or five an over with well-placed ones and twos.

A burst of fire crackers from the crowd halted play for a short while, before Wasti won the race to his fifty, driving Harris out to deep point. Saeed followed in the following over, from Astle, with a cut backward of point, and then off-drove to the boundary. Pakistan were taking control. After 32 overs, Pakistan needed only 100 more to win off the final 18, with all their wickets intact. Despite Fleming’s efforts to set a tight ring of fielders, the batsmen supplemented their ones and twos with regular boundary hits, and the 150 came up to great acclaim from the massive Pakistani contingent in the crowd. The next record to fall was the 159 record World Cup opening partnership for Pakistan back in 1975, between Sadiq Mohammad and Majid Khan against Sri Lanka. Saeed first pulled and then cover-drove McMillan for two boundaries, which first equalled and then excelled that record. New Zealand began to look dispirited in the field, although still trying as hard as ever, as defeat seemed inevitable with the Pakistani opening stand approaching 200. Twice Wasti hammered Larsen through the leg-side field to the boundary, as if to stamp his country’s authority on the match. At last a wicket fell, as Wasti, perhaps becoming anxious about his century or the possibility of missing it if Saeed scored too quickly, went for another big hit off Cairns but only succeeded in skying a catch to Fleming at mid-off. He had scored 84 of Pakistan’s World Cup record partnership of 194, off 122 balls.

Astle kept Saeed tied down on 98, but Ijaz hammered Cairns wide of mid-on for his first boundary, and then glanced the next for another four. A vicious but unavailing slash at the next outside off stump suggested he planned to get the match over with very quickly. At the other end he lofted Astle over long on for six, before Saeed finally reached yet another one-day century, and his second in successive matches, with a push to the off for a single. This naturally brought a pitch invasion, fortunately a minor one.

Despite the inevitability of the result, the New Zealand fielders did not give up, and there were some superb efforts on the boundary, some more successful than others. Ijaz continued to play the role of chief assailant, but was interrupted by another pitch invasion, reason unknown, while New Zealand went into long discussions no doubt about how to take the last nine wickets in a hurry. This only led to an escalation of tension as large numbers of Pakistani supporters left the field of play but refused to get back into their stands. The hopelessly outnumbered stewards could do nothing to enforce order, but play could not continue in these circumstances.

Finally, after a long delay, almost everyone was apparently persuaded to return to the stands, but it was quite obvious what would happen the moment the match was over. Saeed hit Astle over his head to the boundary and then, with two still required, skyed the ball on to the off side, probably clear of the fielders, but the latter had no hope of even attempting a catch as the forces of anarchy took over. Pakistan were through to the final, but a great many people will be hoping that the World Cup never returns to England.