The West Indies registered a convincing seven-victory over Pakistan to romp into the ICC Champions Trophy final, where they will take on England on Saturday.
Ramnaresh Sarwan led the charge with a well-compiled half-century (57) as the West Indies won the second semi-final with more than 20 overs to spare.
They chased the target in just 28.1 overs after bowling out Pakistan for a paltry 131 in 38.2 overs, at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday.
Splendid bowling by the West Indies medium pacers, who exploited the conditions, made Pakistan skipper Inzaman-ul Haq's decision to bat first look foolish.
Yaseer Hameed top-scored with 39 runs for Pakistan, who were bowled out for their sixth lowest total against the West Indies.
Corey Collymore, Dwayne Bravo and Wavell Hinds picked two wickets each as Pakistan lost their last six wickets for just 31 runs.
Pakistan innings
If the West Indies-Pakistan semi-final produced anything to even remotely match Tuesday's first semi-final between Australia and England, the crowd would have been in for a treat. But it resembled meaningless fare, like what was witnessed in the first week of the tournament.
Pakistan made just one change to the side that beat India, bringing in Salman Butt for out-of-form opener Imran Farhat while the West Indies stuck to the side that surprisingly beat South Africa by five wickets.
The biggest surprise of the day, however, was the toss. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq decided to bat first after winning the toss. It was a surprise, because there was heavy cloud cover, which meant that the bowlers would have a lot of assistance.
One thought Inzamam-ul Haq, who won 25 of the 36 matches he played since he became skipper, obviously had a good idea of what he is doing. However, by the end of the tenth over he must have rued his decision to bat first. It was the West Indies who were dominating the proceedings.
Salman Butt, the 19-year-old debutante, was dismissed for a duck off the third ball of the match. A bad shot really, he was expecting the ball to do something, but it didn't and resulted in an easy catch at first slip, where Sarwan made no mistake in the slips. Butt walked and the bowler, Ian Branshaw, rejoiced. (1 for 1)
At the end of the first ten overs, Pakistan had reached just 21. A lot of those runs had come off edges as both Branshaw and Corey Colleymore bowled with control.
But then, suddenly, Pakistan broke the shackles. The next six overs, to the first drinks, break saw them put on 41 runs.
The Windies then struck a huge blow when a superb throw from Dwyane Bravo caught Yaseer Hameed out of his crease. The opening batsman, who till then had looked composed, was gone after scoring 39 off 56 balls. (65 for 2)
The conditions were difficult, no doubt. There was a swirling wind across the ground and movement in the air and off the wicket. Inzamam's decision to bat first just seemed stranger with every passing moment.
Bravo, who had been going at over six an over in his first three overs, pitched one in the right place and got his reward -- the wicket of Shoab Malik, who struggled while scoring 17 off 58 balls. (71 for 3)
Pakistan were stuttering no doubt and at 84 for three at the end of 25 overs they were a long way from where they would have liked to be.
Things got worse when Yousuf Youhana, the new batsman, was dismissed, caught behind by Brown off Bravo after making12 off 28. (100 for 4)
This was just the beginning of a major collapse. Razzaq (6) was next to go, guilty of not grounding his bat. Bravo again came up with a superb throw to give the West Indies another breakthrough. (109 for 5)
Wavell Hinds struck the biggest blow to the now floundering Pakistan innings by removing Inzamam for 21. It was classic dismissal in English conditions. The ball was pitched up and it drew the batsman into the shot. The late movement defeated the batsman and the edge was easily held by Brown. (111 for 6)
Moin Khan followed his skipper to the hut with a duck to his name, Wavell Hinds having trapped him leg before wicket. (112 for 7)
Collymore, the only medium-pacer not to get a wicket so far, joined the party by claiming the wickets of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Sami for ducks. (125 for 9)
Gayle wrapped up the innings on 131 by claiming the wicket of Afridi.
The domination of the West Indian bowlers can be seen from the fact that between the 15th and 32nd over there were no boundaries. The bowlers consistently pitched the ball up and earned the rewards.
It appeared that after beating India Pakistan thought they had already won the trophy.
The West Indies should win this one easily and advance to the final against England.
West Indies innings
The only way Pakistan could emerge victorious after their dismal performance with the bat was to take all ten West Indian wickets. That was obvious.
What wasn't that obvious was how exactly they would achieve that miracle. But they took a step in the right direction by giving the new ball to Shoaib Akhtar.
There is no finer sight in cricket than Akhtar running in at full steam, looking to blast the opposition out. His performance today reaffirmed that belief.
The first ball was quick; the second even quicker. Chris Gayle was forced onto his back foot. One could clearly see that he was not comfortable with what Shoaib was dishing out.
One could also see that Gayle wasn't going to last long. His end came soon enough. A 94.3 mph delivery -- the fastest of the match at that point -- got the West Indian opener leg before the wicket. Gayle was beaten by pace; the bat came down late on the ball and he was back in the pavilion. (8 for 1)
Shoaib had given Pakistan an early breakthrough but the others needed to follow to give the team a chance of making a fight of the match.
At the other end, Sami was bowling quick as well but was not as menacing as Akhtar.
Akhtar, bowling in inspired fashion, claimed another wicket, that of Wavell Hinds. He came charging and bowled, at full tilt, an over-pitched delivery only to see Hinds smash it back at him. Somehow he reacted within a fraction of a second and held on to complete a brilliant caught and bowled. (20-2)
That got Lara in. But just as we were priming to see the world's fastest bowler take on the world's best batsman, for the second time in the day, Inzamam did the inexplicable. He took Akhtar out of the attack after he had bowled just four overs.
Sami came on at his end but the effect was just not the same. Lara and Sarwan settled and the West Indies seemed to be cruising to an easy win. Inzamam immediately realised nothing was working and was forced to get Akhtar back into the attack.
This was around the 14th over. A bit of crowd trouble erupted as Pakistani supporters vented their fury. Two men were arrested before everyone could turn their attention back to cricket.
Just as things quieted down, a 92.1 mph short-pitched delivery from Akhtar hit Lara on the neck. The West Indian skipper had to leave the field after taking the painful blow on the unprotected part of the body. Lara had scored 31 off 30 balls. The West Indies were 76 for 2 then.
Chanderpaul walked in next and it was too much to expect of him to fill Lara's shoes. He played in his usual manner ugly, yet very effective. He scored just 11 but helped take the West Indies to 103 before top-edging an attempted sweep off Malik. (103 for 3)
Ricardo Powell walked to the middle. With him there you can always expect some quick runs.
Sarwan wrapped it all up for the Windies, finishing with 56 runs while Powell ended up on six as the West Indies won by seven wickets and 21.5 overs to spare.
