PAARL, South Africa, 26 February 2003 — Wasim Akram and Inzamam-ul Haq experienced contrasting fortunes as Pakistan cruised to a 97-run victory over the Netherlands in World Cup Group A yesterday. Wasim became the first player in history to take 500 One-Day International wickets, but Inzamam’s miserable World Cup continued when he was out for a second-ball duck.

Pakistan, desperate for a good performance after their crushing upset defeat by England, produced another unconvincing batting display in a total of 253 for nine, but their bowlers were more impressive as they routed the Dutch for 156 to keep their hopes of reaching the Super Sixes alive.

It was Wasim’s day, the 36-year-old left-arm fast bowler reaching his milestone when he forced Netherlands opener Nick Statham to play a typically venomous inswinger on to his stumps. He later had Klaas Jan van Noortwijk caught by wicketkeeper Rashid Latif and finished the match by trapping Jeroen Smits lbw to complete figures of three for 24. “I’m very excited but in the end what matters is that Pakistan should qualify,” Wasim said. “I think we are going in the right direction. I would like to dedicate this to all the people who have supported me in the last 18 years.”

Asked which players had helped him most in his career, Wasim mentioned two former Pakistan captains. “Imran (Khan) was the main man who helped me, and Javed Miandad,” Wasim said.

Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq were also among the wickets as the Dutchmen struggled, Daan van Bunge top-scoring with 31 including a six and three fours. There were also 40 extras.

Earlier, Yousuf Youhana topscored for Pakistan with a run-a-ball 58, Taufeeq Umar made 48 and Abdul Razzaq 47, but Inzamam’s wretched tournament continued. The fourth most prolific run-scorer in One-Day International history lasted one ball longer than he did against England on Saturday before being trapped lbw by Dutch medium-pacer Tim de Leede.

Inzamam’s tally for the tournament remained at 10 runs from four innings. Pakistan began steadily enough, Saeed Anwar and Umar sharing an opening partnership of 61 before Anwar drove rashly at a wide ball from De Leede and gave Jacob Jan Esmeijer a high catch at backward point.

Wickets then fell steadily to the disciplined Dutch attack and it needed a fluent innings from Youhana to lift Pakistan to a respectable total. Razzaq played a few crisp attacking strokes before edging spinner Van Bunge to wicketkeeper Smits and Youhana watched in disbelief as Saleem Elahi and Wasim threw their wickets away.

Rashid Latif chipped in with a useful 24 and Shoaib, promoted from his usual number 11 following his quickfire 43 against England, struck a huge six off Henk Jan Mol on the way to an unbeaten 26.

Wasim: My 500 Wickets

Are for My Fans

Wasim Akram dedicated his achievement to his legion of spectators. “I am very excited by this,” said the 36-year-old who finished with 3-24 to take his career total to 502 wickets.

“I want to dedicate the 500 wickets to the spectators who have supported me throughout my 18 years in the game. I also want to dedicate them to people like Imran and Miandad who taught me to work hard to get to the top and how to stay there.”

Wasim reached the landmark in his 354th match with the next best on the all-time list his current captain Waqar Younis, who now has 414 wickets after yesterday’s game.

The left-armer, playing his fifth and last World Cup, is the only bowler to have taken over 400 wickets in both forms of the game. Only Sri Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan, India’s Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath have taken 300 or more wickets in limited-over internationals. West Indian Courtney Walsh holds the record of most Test wickets with 519 in 132 matches, followed by Australia’s Shane Warne (491), Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan (437) India’s Kapil Dev (434), New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee (431) and Wasim (414).

“It is something special to achieve 500, but at the end of the day it matters more that the team achieve some crucial wins in the World Cup,” Wasim said. Asked which one of his wickets was most special, Wasim said it was always a personal victory to remove the likes of Viv Richards and Martin Crowe.

“These were the geniuses of one-day cricket, and they knew how to play reverse swing. I consider Viv the best one-day batsman of all time,” he said. Cricket’s magazine Wisden recently honored Wasim by naming him the best bowler in limited-overs cricket.

The former Pakistan captain acknowledged that the 1992 World Cup final against England was one of the most memorable matches in which he claimed 3-49 and scored 33 off 19 deliveries to secure his team’s win. Regarded as one of the most innovative new-ball bowlers, Wasim failed to get a wicket on his one-day debut against New Zealand at Faisalabad in 1984-85 but was instantly compared with Australian legandary left armer Alan Davidson when he took 5-21 against the Aussies in Melbourne in only his fourth match.

He also holds the record of two hat tricks — both in Tests and one-dayers — his first hat trick coming against the West Indies in Sharjah in 1989-90 during which he also completed his 100 wickets.

That was followed by a second hat trick against Australia, also in Sharjah six months later. Wasim’s finest hour came in the 1992 World Cup when he took 18 wickets — three in the final — to finish as player of the tournament and help his team win the title.