On fire Afridi lifts ragged Pakistan to victory

Shahid Afridi made up for Pakistan's ragged performance with the bat by collecting his second five-wicket haul of the World Cup as the 1992 champions beat Canada by 46 runs on Thursday.

Canada looked as if they could produce the second shock of the tournament when they skittled Pakistan for 184 in just 43 overs and followed it up with some sensible batting from Zubin Surkari (27) and Jimmy Hansra to reach 104 for three.

But once leg-spinner Afridi (5-23) bowled Hansra for 43, the Canadians lost their way and were all out for 138, handing Pakistan their third successive win in Group A.

Ireland beat England in Group B on Wednesday to create the first upset of this year's event.

Earlier, Ireland's sensational World Cup victory over England inspired Canada to hand mighty Pakistan a huge scare on Thursday as the tournament braced itself for another sensation.

Less than a day after Ireland struck a major blow for the game's second tier nations with their three-wicket win in Bangalore, fellow underdogs Canada were snarling at the heels of Pakistan, the 1992 champions, in Colombo.

Canada dismissed Pakistan for just 184 at the R. Premadasa stadium.

Umar Akmal top-scored for Pakistan with 48 while seamer Harvir Baidwan claimed three wickets for a Canadian side who had lost by 210 runs to Sri Lanka and by 175 runs to Zimbabwe.

"The guys really worked hard. We've had two bad games but I hope the batting clicks today and it's a good total to chase. We're pretty confident about it so it's a good team effort," said Baidwan.

Ireland's victory on Wednesday, already regarded as the biggest shock in the history of the tournament, predictably had England's demanding media sharpening their knives.

"England were left looking like a pub side," said the tabloid Sun newspaper.

Ireland won with five balls to spare as they finished on 329 for seven after England had been cruising when they reduced their opponents to 111 for five.

But Kevin O'Brien's brutal hitting, which brought him the fastest ever World Cup century off just 50 balls, turned the match on its head.

Ireland captain William Porterfield challenged the International Cricket Council's decision to cut the number of teams at the next World Cup from 14 to 10, which reduces the chances for the smaller nations to take part.

"The ICC have made a decision and it's out of our hands," said Porterfield.

"It's pretty disappointing cutting the teams to 10. I personally think there needs to be some kind of qualification."

England next tackle South Africa in Chennai on Sunday where another defeat could be fatal to their hopes of making the quarter-finals.

South Africa went to the top of Group B with two wins in two matches after a 231-run mauling of the Netherlands on Thursday, the fourth biggest win in World Cup history.

The Proteas piled up 351-5 in Mohali with AB de Villiers and opener Hashim Amla both hitting centuries and putting on 221 for the third wicket.

De Villiers made 134 off 98 balls with 13 fours and four sixes for a second successive century at this World Cup while Amla hit 113 off 130 balls with eight fours.

JP Duminy contributed a 15-ball 40 before the Dutch were dismissed for just 120 to leave them rooted to the bottom of the table with three defeats in three outings.

Scorecard
Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Osinde 11
Ahmed Shahzad c Gordon b Baidwan 12
Kamran Akmal c Kumar b Cheema 16
Younis Khan lbw b Baidwan 6
Misbah-ul-Haq c Bagai b Rao 37
Umar Akmal lbw b Rao 48
Shahid Afridi c Kumar b Cheema 20
Abdul Razzaq lbw b Hansra 8
Umar Gul not out 2
Wahab Riaz c Rao b Hansra 0
Saeed Ajmal b Baidwan 0
Extras: (b4, lb3, nb1, w16) 24
Total: (all out; 43 overs) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Hafeez), 2-42 (Shahzad), 3-55 (Younis), 4-67 (Kamran), 5-140 (Umar), 6-165 (Misbah), 7-181 (Afridi), 8-181 (Razzaq), 9-181 (Riaz), 10-184 (Ajmal)
Bowling: Chohan 3.3-0-10-0 (nb1), Osinde 7-1-25-1 (w5), Gordon 0.3-0-1-0 (w1), Baidwan 8-1-35-3 (w6), Cheema 8-0-33-2 (w3), Rao 10-0-50-2 (w1), Hansra 6-1-23-2,

Canada
R. Gunasekera lbw b Gul 8
N. Kumar b Razzaq 2
Z. Surkari lbw b Ajmal 27
A. Bagai lbw b Afridi 16
J. Hansra b Afridi 43
Rizwan Cheema b Afridi 4
T. Gordon c Riaz b Afridi 9
J. Baidwan b Afridi 0
Khurram Chohan not out 5
B. Rao run out 1
H. Osinde b Riaz 0
Extras: (lb4, w19) 23
Total: (all out; 42.5 overs) 138
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Gunasekera), 2-16 (Kumar), 3-44 (Bagai), 4-104 (Surkari), 5-111 (Cheema), 6-114 (Hansra), 7-114 (Baidwan), 8-130 (Gordon), 9-134 (Rao), 10-138 (Osinde)
Bowling: Razzaq 7-2-16-1 (w1), Gul 7-1-20-1 (w6), Afridi 10-0-23-5 (w3), Riaz 5.5-0-23-1 (w2), Ajmal 8-0-31-1 (w7), Hafeez 5-0-21-0
Result: Pakisan won by 46 runs

Man of the Match: Shahid Afridi
Toss: Pakistan
Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Tony Hill (NZL)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

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