Cricket: Pakistan win World Series Cup

Pakistan 165 West Indies 103 Pakistan win by 62 runs

The Pakistan captain, Wasim Akram, shrugged off an injury to spearhead a fast-bowling rout of West Indies in Melbourne yesterday to secure the World Series Cup.

Pakistan now take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three final. It is their first win in the triangular limited-overs tournament - they had beaten the West Indies by four wickets in the first final in Sydney on Saturday.

Wasim said: "We told everyone when we arrived in Australia that we are the best team in the world. We have won the competition and we have got a young team that is very talented."

Not even a power failure that left the stadium in darkness for 24 minutes could distract Wasim and his team from their task. Despite a niggling hamstring strain, Wasim generated extreme pace, bounce and movement off the seam to dismiss the opener, Sherwin Campbell, and the middle- order pair of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper in sweltering temperatures.

"I pulled the hamstring in my second or third over and I was just about to come off when I got two wickets in one over. At times, it was very painful." Wasim explained.

Shahid Nazir, drafted into the side to replace the leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, justified his selection by exploiting a lively pitch to finish with outstanding figures of 3 for 14 from 10 overs.

After losing seven wickets for the addition of 24 runs in Sydney, the West Indies were reduced to 42 for 7 when the vice-captain, Brian Lara, fell for 19. Ijaz Ahmed, the top scorer in Sydney, scored 45 when Pakistan replied, while Mohammad Wasim hit 41 in the closing overs off 79 balls.

WORLD SERIES Final (Melbourne): Pakistan 165; West Indies 103. Pakistan win by 62 runs and win best of three series 2-0.