Akram nails two in two

'Wasim's World Cup ripper of rippers came with a sequel hot on its heels'
Melbourne, 25 March 1992


The first World Cup final to be played under lights, the only one to take place in Australia, and the last one not to feature the Australian team. The two finalists are the team that did best in the group stage - England, astonishingly - and the one that came roaring into form just in time - Pakistan.

The game ebbs and flows nicely. Derek Pringle's tidy outswing puts England on top before two grizzled maestros, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, fight back with a stand of 139. With a fluent 40 from their latest discovery Inzamam-ul-Haq, and a buccaneering 33 from Wasim Akram, Pakistan set a target of 250.

England stumble to 69 for 4 in the twilight, but then Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb drag them back into it. They put on 72 and Imran is forced to turn to his sole spearhead, Wasim (Imran himself is bowling with a bad shoulder, and Waqar Younis has missed the whole tournament). Wasim has to find something special. It helps that his speciality is reverse swing at high pace. He ambles in to Lamb, round the wicket, and fires one in towards his pads. It shapes in, then darts away, beating Lamb's baffled prod and taking out the off stump.

Chris Lewis comes in at No.7. Wasim goes wider on the crease and greets him with what appears to be an off-side wide, but it curls back wickedly late and takes out the off stump again. Wasim went on to play one-day international cricket for longer than any other bowler - 18 years, 356 games, 502 wickets - but he never bettered those two balls.