Pakistan 142 for 1 (Imran 59, Afridi 55*) beat Holland 136 by 9 wickets
Scorecard

After their off-the-field turmoil, Pakistan made short work of Holland like depressed kids happily tucking into some orange-coloured tutti-frutti ice-cream. They first bundled Holland out for 136, after being asked to field first, and then blasted the runs with 33.4 overs and nine wickets to spare. Shahid Afridi smashed 55 off 18 balls, the second-fastest ODI half-century, to add to his fine bowling performance in the morning.

With six sixes and four fours, Afridi completed the massacre that Imran Nazir had started. Four of Afridi's sixes came off Adeel Raja's offspin in his second over, most of them landing in the grass mounds, much to the joy of the dancing youngsters.

The second-wicket partnership had plundered 57 in 4.5 overs, with Saeed Anwar's contribution being 2. The miracle of the innings came in Raja's first over: it was a maiden. Fifty-one runs came off the next three to finish the match.

Nazir, who began the onslaught with 12 off the first over, fell after plundering 59 off 40 balls, holing out to Bas Zuiderent at square leg off Feiko Kloppenburg (85 for 1). But Afridi continued the demolition work with four boundaries off his six balls. He missed Sanath Jayasuriya's world record for the fastest ODI fifty by one ball.

Roland Lefebvre, the Holland captain and a former Somerset player, could only laugh and shake his head in disbelief at the awards function. "We expected a quick finish," he chuckled, "but not that quick." He himself had helped delay the end, with his four overs costing only 14. He had also top-scored for the Dutch with an unbeaten 32 that including a mighty six off Shoaib Malik. It helped his side last the full 50 overs, after the sixth wicket fell for 84 in the 29th.

Lefebvre added further substance to the resistance offered by 34-year-old Tim de Leede (24 off 51), who has played county 2nd XI cricket in England. de Leede's stubborn fifth-wicket stand of 55 with Luuk van Troost saved Holland some pink faces to go with their orange outfits, after three wickets fell in seven balls to leave them tottering at 24 for 3.

Afridi trapped de Leede lbw with a faster ball to give Pakistan the breakthrough (84 for 6). de Leede had looked good for more, as he and van Troost, a left-hander, made hay when Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar were away. Waqar and Shoaib had opened the bowling and caused the early damage. Waqar claimed 2 for 14 in his seven-over first spell, but kept himself out of the attack thereafter.

After Afridi ran out Kloppenburg (7 off 22) with a direct hit, the third and fourth wickets fell off consecutive balls to Waqar. Zuiderent nibbled outside off to Younis Khan at slip (23 for 3), while Henk Mol was bowled first ball when he shouldered arms to a ball that came back and wrecked his stumps. van Troost survived the hat-trick ball, and grew in confidence, thumping Mohammad Sami through the covers to post the fifty of the innings. In the earlier over, de Leede had swung Afridi over square leg for a huge six, the ball clanging on the tin roof of the SSC. They were two of the rare shots of aggression in Holland's innings.

van Troost was gifted a life when Rashid Latif bungled an easy stumping chance off Afridi. But Latif made amends, catching him off Afridi as he edged one that turned away. Afridi, with figures of 8-2-17-3, a catch and a run-out, was already the front-runner for Man of the Match, before he went berserk with the bat in the afternoon. If ICC persists in scheduling such one-sided matches, Amnesty International might step in to rescue the minnows' human rights.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd