Pakistan in final as Gul reigns supreme

Umar Gul and a timely rain break conspired to send Pakistan into tomorrow's

World Twenty20 final.

Pakistan beat New Zealand

by six wickets in Cape Town,

helped by the elements and

a dazzling spell of seam

bowling from Gul.

The Black Caps were

cruising at 41 for 0 when the

heavens opened, but as soon

as the players returned after a

half-hour break it was all

Pakistan.

Lou Vincent went for 28

and that started a steady

procession of wickets to fall

as Gul turned the screw.

He removed Scott Styris,

Peter Fulton and dangerman

Jacob Oram to finish with

impressive figures of three

for 15.

Ryan Taylor clubbed 17 off

the last over of the innings to

enable New Zealand to limp

to 143 for eight, but it never

looked like being enough.

Imran Nazir (59) and

Mohammad Hafeez (32)

piled on 60 for the first wicket

with Nazir, in particular, in

brutal form, smashing five sixes.

Shoaib Malik then hit

a quickfire 26 not out as

Pakistan got home with

seven balls to spare.

The Pakistan skipper said:

"It was a great win and our

bowlers are bowling

brilliantly at the moment.

We contained them well and

then we chased.

"When the rain came I was

just saying, 'This is our day.

Let's have some effort, we

have plans, we need to stick

to them'. We restricted them

well."

Disappointed New Zealand

captain Daniel Vettori said:

"We're bitterly disappointed.

When you make 143 on a

wicket like that, a pretty

good one, it's hard.

"We've been pretty erratic

with the batting and, looking

back over the tournament,

that is what has let us down."

Pakistan will meet the

winner of last night's second

semi-final between India and

Australia in tomorrow's final

in Johannesburg.