Saeed Anwar had a word with batting partner Yousuf Youhana moments before he hit the six which gave him a century and took Pakistan to a nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the ICC KnockOut 2000 quarter-final at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club on Sunday.

"I told him 'You'll be out next game if you don't let me score a hundred'," said Saeed, pulling rank in his 210th ODI. Youhana duly obliged and Saeed was able to complete his 18th limited overs century, ending the match unbeaten on 105.

Saeed was well-pleased with his efforts. He'd been struggling with his form a little, he said, and it was good to get among the runs again. Also pleased with his team's day's work was Pakistan captain Moin Khan.

"I think we bowled really well in the beginning and we got quick wickets," he said. "That helped us a lot."

In truth, though, Sri Lanka, were most disappointing. They slipped quickly to eight for two and never recovered. Sanath Jayasuriya threw his bat around, twice slicing Wasim Akram over third man for six, but there was something lacking about Sri Lanka on the day, and Jayasuriya's eventual departure came as no particular surprise. "It was a plan," claimed Moin. "It was a slow ball. We told the guys to come up. He was thrashing every ball."

Jayasuriya made 39, Russell Arnold grated his way to 38 and the only other Sri Lankan batsman to get into the 20s was wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana who made 28. A total of 194 was never going to be defendable on another good pitch, a slick outfield and the Gymkhana Club's close boundaries.

So it proved. There was an air of resignation about the Sri Lankans as they went out to field and the left-arm opening pair, Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, offered only a fraction of the threat they posed to the West Indians last week.

There were a few close calls for run outs - Saeed said Imran Nazir is learning how to call - but during the first 15 overs the closest Sri Lanka came to removing one of the Pakistan opening pair was when Imran copped one on the wrist from Avishka Gunawardene's shy at the stumps.

In the end, a run-out accounted for Imran when Marvan Atapattu got one in just above the bails to leave the batsman fractionally short, but this seemed the only way that Sri Lanka were going to take a wicket.

Saeed went on and on, now in harness with Youhana, and the match trickled towards its inevitable conclusion with Pakistan winning with more than six overs to spare.

Jayasuriya was unable to explain exactly what had gone wrong, other to confirm the obvious - that Sri Lanka had neither batted nor bowled well on the day.

It is difficult to know exactly what conclusion to draw from Pakistan's efforts. They were probably made to look good by a Sri Lankan team that played poorly on the day, and a more serious examination of Pakistan's credentials for this tournament could come on Wednesday when they play the winners of Monday's meeting between Zimbabwe and New Zealand.

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