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Wasim Akram, the Pakistan captain, acknowledged the important part that Shoaib Akhtar, the pretender to Waqar Younis's fast bowling throne, played in the crushing victory at Old Trafford.

Akhtar, the 'Rawalpindi Rocket', interrupted New Zealand's momentum with three crucial wickets and his unremarkable figures disguised his value.

Shoaib failed to reach the 100mph mark, as had been predicted for him, but the speed gun showed many missiles homing in towards the stumps at 94mph. His slower ball, an off-cutter, was measured at 68mph.

Wasim said: ``Shoaib didn't sleep last night because he was so excited. He showed that pace does matter in one-day cricket. New Zealand were going well until he got us a breakthrough. He's on a learning curve, but he's ready for the final.''

Wasim, making a satisfying farewell appearance at Old Trafford, said his team had been ``eager and relaxed'', adding: ``That was one of the best one-day wickets I've played on.''

Stephen Fleming, New Zealand's captain, felt that his team had not played badly against very good opposition. ``The thing that let us down,'' he said, ``was that we didn't take wickets early. We didn't have the firepower to knock batsmen over.'' That was where Wasim had such an advantage over his opposite number.

Fleming was not satisfied with New Zealand's overall performance through the tournament. He said: ``It's nice to say we've reached the top four, and we still haven't played that well.''