September 22, 2002	Sunday	Rajab 14, 1423

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COLOMBO, Sept 21: Shahid Afridi smashed the second fastest 50 in One-day Internationals as Pakistan raced to a nine-wicket victory over Holland in the Champions Trophy Saturday.

With Sri Lanka already through to the semifinals from pool four the match meant little in terms of the competition.

But Pakistan at least had the satisfaction of disposing of the part-timers quickly with Afridi providing the fireworks.

First he took three for 18 with his leg-spinners as the Dutch were bowled out for 136 from the last ball of their 50 overs.

Extras top-scored in the innings with 33, only the 24th time that has happened in one-day history.

After Imran Nazir had hammered 59 from 40 balls in an opening stand of 85 with Saeed Anwar (28 not out), Afridi then wrapped up the match in double-quick time with an unbeaten 55 from only 18 balls.

He smashed four sixes off one over from Adeel Raja, and ended the match with his sixth six, again off the young off-spinner, as Pakistan reached their target in only 16.2 overs.

Afridi’s half century took one ball longer than the quickest 50 in one-day history, set by Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya against Pakistan in Singapore in April 1996.

It gave the sparse crowd something to cheer and Waqar Younis’s side — without a coach since Mudassar Nazar was sacked on Tuesday — something to smile about after winning only three of their previous 10 matches.

With Holland playing only their seventh senior one-day game a Pakistan win was always likely.

That scenario became almost inevitable when the Dutch collapsed to 23 for four after Roland Lefebvre had won the toss and decided to bat against a Pakistan attack missing paceman Wasim Akram, who was rested.

Waqar and Shoaib Akhtar made the early inroads with the captain on a hat trick after removing Baz Zuiderent (7) and Henk-Jan Mol (0) in his fifth over.

Tim de Leede (24) and Luuk van Troost (16) added some credibility to the score as they put on 55 for the fifth wicket with some defiant strokes.

De Leede produced the shot of the day when he swept Afridi on to the second level of the grandstand, while van Troost flat-batted Abdul Razzaq back past a startled bowler.

But Afridi had the last laugh by trapping de Leede lbw before picking up two more wickets in three balls. Van Troost was caught behind by Rashid Latif after earlier missing a stumping chance and Jacob-Jan Esmeijer was lbw pushing forward.

It was left to Lefebvre (32 not out) to strike a few defiant blows, including a six over long-on off Shoaib Malik’s off-spin.

He added 23 with Raja for the last wicket before Raja was bowled by Razzaq from the final ball of the allotted 50 overs.

Pakistan batted like a team in a hurry when they set about their run chase with Nazir clobbering three fours from Edgar Schiferli’s first over.

He eventually forced the young medium-pacer out of the attack after taking seven fours from four overs.

A 10-wicket win looked likely until Nazir pulled a long-hop from Feiko Kloppenburg straight to Zuiderent at deep square leg, before Afridi ruthlessly ended the match with his brutal batting.