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Pakistan may have come to the boil at just the right time. After a poor run in 1998, they have looked invincible since Wasim Akram was reinstated as captain in January. Anyone who has watched their three wins in the World Cup must have been impressed by their depth of talent, their ingenuity, and most of all their hunger for victory.

Wasim is at the pinnacle of his powers. Among the captains, he has been the most assertive on the field and the most outspoken off it. As batsman and bowler, his interventions have proved decisive, and he is probably the most influential player in the tournament.

He is in total command of the team, having sidelined Aamir Sohail, Javed Miandad, Sarfraz Nawaz and Mushtaq Mohammad. Should Pakistan fail to recapture the cup, there will be no-one but Wasim left to take the blame.

Wasim, like several others in the squad, is playing under the shadow of the Qayyum report on match-fixing and bookmaking. Among the evidence assembled by Justice Qayyum are allegations against Wasim. Winning the World Cup may be Pakistan's best hope of improving their image.

Even without the imminent Qayyum revelations, the stakes are high for Wasim and his men, and defeat will bring denunciation and recrimination, as it did in 1996. But the competitive edge of the Pakistani side is about much more than the exaggerated importance of cricket in their homeland. Pakistan's domestic cricket is notoriously chaotic, but it may be precisely this chaos that allows young talent to rise rapidly to the top. These are the only competitors in the World Cup with fresh memories of the improvised rough-and-tumble of street cricket, where the premium is on power, guile and adaptability.

At 23, Shoaib Akhtar has emerged as a complete fast bowler with enough charisma to light up cricket grounds for years to come. What other World Cup side would have even considered playing the 19-year-old Abdul Razzaq, in preference to more experienced hands, as a top-order batsman and strike bowler? And is there a 19-year-old from any other country who could have matched Razzaq's confidence and craft?

But it is the performances of 24-year-old Yousuf Youhana in the middle order which are charged with the greatest social significance in Pakistan. When he completed his 50 against Scotland at Chester-le-Street, Youhana crossed himself in thanksgiving and celebration, a sight that elicited little comment here but will have been noted by the millions glued to television at home. Youhana is only the fifth Christian, and the first since Khalid Ibadulla in 1967, to play for the national side. Christians in Pakistan are among the poorest; they are forced to vote in a separate, non-Muslim electorate, and are subject to persecution under the blasphemy laws introduced by the military dictator-cum-cricket fan, Zia-ul-Haq. In that context, Youhana's claim to a place in the side is welcome for reasons well beyond the boundary.

Like the players, the Pakistani supporters have been young, highly vocal and ferociously partisan. Whereas many of the Indian supporters are visitors to this country, most of the Pakistan fans are long-time residents and many have never even seen Pakistan. They offer English cricket a pool of home-grown support and talent, which is one reason to worry about the official response to the pitch invasion at Headingley.

The players must be protected, but it is the custom in this country for spectators to occupy the field when stumps are drawn, and banning that custom just because the spectators are doing it at greater speed and in greater numbers will do nothing to bolster claims that this is a Carnival of Cricket. It must also be said that the over-reaction to the Pakistan fans' behaviour at Headingley is in contrast to the non-reaction to the racist abuse those fans suffered at the same ground in 1996.