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London, June 21: It was a crying shame, for the neutral as much as for the legions of Pakistan fans who paid inflated black market prices to get a ticket for the game, that the 1999 World Cup final was such a damp squib.

The Australians were still celebrating, of course, but even Steve Waugh and his team would admit, in a quieter moment, that they would have liked their triumph to have been a more memorable occasion.

Wasim Akram won a toss that he might better have lost, and everything else went wrong too. It was a cruel way for Pakistan's exciting World Cup campaign to come to an end, but it is the nature of cricket that bad days happen. In sport, as in life, nothing can be guaranteed and that very uncertainty can be enriching as much as frustrating.

Lord's, a cricket theatre made even more dramatic by the new Grandstand and the space-age new media centre, looked a picture on a near-perfect early summer day. Only 59.1 overs of the possible 100 had been delivered, however, when the winning runs were hit. As the late afternoon sun lit up the stadium it was deserted.

Pakistan played so poorly it is difficult to add insult to injury by criticising. It is easier to bemoan the keenly-felt absence of hamstring victim Yousuf Youhana in the middle-order.

But every critic must also castigate the batsmen who remained for not having the sense to lower initial sights, as wickets fell, and to concentrate on laying some sort of base for an assault in the last 10 overs.

Inzamam can count himself unlucky for the caught behind decision by David Shepherd which ended his innings on 15, and with the big man went all realistic hope.

I felt Wasim should have come in higher - perhaps even at number six - so that his left-handedness could have countered the threat of Shane Warne, but otherwise it was simply a case of batsmen getting themselves out. Australia bowled well, but they were handed too many gifts.

One incident summed it up. Abdur Razzaq, who was involved in a crucial third wicket stand with Ijaz Ahmed following the early loss of both openers, was given the one gift Australia offered all day - a shocking miss by Glenn McGrath, of all people, at long-off. But Razzaq did not make the most of this let-off, holing out to extra cover soon afterwards.

I met Imran Khan midway through the Pakistan innings, as he took a break from his television commentary duties. I asked him for his view of proceedings and Imran replied, with a pained look: ``We are batting so pathetically!'' He did not need to say anything else.

In 1992, when Imran led Pakistan to World Cup glory, he and Javed Miandad were in exactly the position Razzaq and Ijaz found themselves facing at Lord's. From 24-2, seven years ago against England, Imran and Javed concentrated solely on recovery, scoring slowly at first in a stand that was to reach 139.

But the base was laid, and an eventual total of 249 reached through some manic late hitting with wickets in hand. Now, no such tactics were adopted - and perhaps the presence of Javed in the dressing room was missed, after all.

Steve Waugh said afterwards that the Lord's pitch, though helpful to the seamers early on and taking turn for Warne, was ``a 260 track''. I think even 220 to 240 would have been enough to defend.

So, Pakistan must learn from the experience and they must take strength from the fact that they were clearly the most multi-talented side in the competition.

Australia depended heavily on Warne and McGrath with the ball, and South Africa - for all their all-round power and the fact that they should have twice beaten Australia - had the fatal flaw of being poor players of spin and of not having a top-class spinner of their own.

Pakistan have the most gifted young players in world cricket, and in the next World Cup many of them will be at their absolute peak.

Azhar Mahmood and Abdur Razzaq can both become all-rounders of true world-class, and Saqlain too has forward strides still to make. Yousuf Youhana will, for me, become one of the leading batsmen in the world over the next couple of years - and Wajahatullah Wasti also has the technique to succeed.

Shoaib Akhtar, meanwhile, has used the World Cup stage to establish himself as the most exciting cricketer to emerge in the international game for some years. He too should be at the height of his powers in 2003, when the World Cup is staged by South Africa.

It is by no means all gloom and doom for Pakistan cricket. But, when you have just lost a World Cup final and lost it badly, it does take some getting over.