Afridi sweeps Pakistan

Shahid Afridi sweeps Pakistan into World Twenty20 final.

Pakistan 149-4 South Africa 142-5; Pakistan win by 7 runs• South Africa's run of semi-final defeats continues.Shahid Afridi swept Pakistan into the World Twenty20 final on a passionate night in Nottingham, proclaiming in the process that they can still remain a force in international cricket despite the terrorism that has torn them asunder.South Africa's run of semi-final defeats continues, but they were so outplayed that it is difficult to accuse them of choking once more. They were obliterated, with Afridi reawakening a largely dormant career with 51 from 34 balls – his first Pakistan fifty in all formats for 29 matches – and dispatching Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers in the space of three balls.Pakistan's cricket has long been entirely unpredictable and that restive nature seems even more apt now that they have been consigned to the lifestyle of a travelling circus, unable to play in their own country since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team coach in Lahore in March.Their victory was not without trauma. Umar Gul, the best bowler in the tournament, lost his run three consecutive times in the penultimate over, as if the occasion had temporarily become too much. And it was Gul who had earlier dropped Graeme Smith at mid-on, entirely failing to gather a skier as he back-pedalled and banging his head on the turf in the process.South Africa, beaten for the first time, limped to the last over still 23 short of their victory target of 150, about par for a slow, turning pitch. JP Duminy struck Mohammad Amir's second ball, a low full toss, for six, but when Fawad Alam ran out Albie Morkel next ball with a direct hit from 40 yards it confirmed that the magic rested with Pakistan.Pakistan's victory came despite what seemed to be an unacceptable intervention by the Australian umpire Steve Davis in the wake of the ball-tampering allegations made by New Zealand against Gul. Davis seemed to tell Pakistan's fielders not to throw the ball into the stumps on the bounce, in an attempt to roughen up the ball more quickly. It was a perfectly legitimate tactic and Davis's admonishment, if so it was, smacked of an attempt to impose arbitrary and unfair restrictions.Shoaib Malik's 34 from 39 balls never really convinced, and the final spurt never quite came, their last 26 balls bringing only 25. In that period, South Africa did not concede a boundary. At the centre of this unremitting professionalism was Wayne Parnell, a 19-year-old fast bowler with nerves of steel, again aggressive, rhythmic and entirely unfazed. South Africa felt confident, but it was not to last.

Source; guardian.co.u