AUSTRALIA v PAKISTAN

At Sharjah, May 4. Pakistan won by 36 runs. Toss: Pakistan. Pakistan's mercurial all-rounder, Wasim Akram, hitting 49 off 35 deliveries and later finishing the Australian innings with a hat-trick, enabled Pakistan to retain the trophy they won four years earlier when they beat India, with a six by Javed Miandad, off the last ball. With almost four overs left, Australia required 37 to win with three wickets in hand, but Akram dashed any hopes they might have entertained by clean-bowling Hughes, Rackemann and Alderman. The architect of Pakistan's innings was Salim Malik, whose polished 87 from 104 balls contained a six and seven fours. Saeed Anwar got them going with a swashbuckling 40 from 37 balls, but it needed Akram's devastating hitting to bring 60 runs from the last five overs and so set the Australians a challenging target. Two of his three sixes came in the final over, both landing in the stands, as he took 18 runs off O'Donnell. Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed's three wickets put the brake on Australia after Waugh and O'Donnell had added 54 for the fifth wicket.

Man of the Match: Wasim Akram.