ST AUGUSTINE, Trinidad - Solid batting and efficient bowling eased Pakistan to a 77-run victory over Canada in their World Cup warm-up match today.
With the Canadians unable to provide much resistance, the only drama Pakistan encountered in their opening match in the Caribbean was when a toppled
sightscreen resulted in play being held up for 77 minutes.
Pakistan totalled 273 for eight in a match that was reduced to 48 overs-a-side after grounds staff struggled to lift the screen which had been blown over by gusting winds.
The 1992 champions had slipped to 66 for four when captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (59) and Mohammad Hafeez (61) combined for a 93-run fifth-wicket stand to rescue their side.
The Canadian attack looked less penetrative once early moisture in the pitch dried under a hot sun.
Late order hitting by Kamran Akmal, who clipped his unbeaten 56 off 37 balls with two fours and four sixes, boosted Pakistan to their total.
Akmal and Azhar Mahmood, who scored 23, needed just 38 balls to realise their eighth-wicket stand of 66.
Medium pacer Iftikhar Anjum took three for 23 from five overs to help dismiss Canada for 196 in 46.4 overs.
Forty-year-old fast bowler Anderson Cummins, who was born in Barbados and played five tests and 63 one-day internationals for West Indies before turning out for Canada in 2007, defied his age and the heat to take two wickets from his eight overs.
The Canadians never attempted to chase the target and were content to occupy the crease.
Geoff Barnett (28) and Abdool Samad (27) shared a pedestrian opening stand of 60, Qaiser Ali top scored with a measured 37 and Ashif Mulla made 31.
- REUTERS
