Cricket: Jones' grit ousts Pakistan

DEAN JONES'S loss of form over the longer haul may have cost him his Test place yet his quality in the sprint remains undimmed, a fact he emphasised in front of 68,000 boisterous fans in Melbourne yesterday by propelling Australia into the final of the one-day World Series Cup at the expense of the World Cup holders, Pakistan.

Despite chipping a bone in his right thumb, Jones was urged on by his vociferous home crowd and ultimately top-scored with 84, adding 124 for the second wicket with David Boon to guide the hosts to 212 for 6 from their allotted 50 overs. The captain, Allan Border, completed 6,000 runs in one-day internationals in the process.

Requiring victory to retain any hope of facing the West Indies in the best-of-three final starting on Saturday, Pakistan lost two early wickets and never recovered their poise despite 40s from Rameez Raja and Javed Miandad, leaving Australia victorious by 32 runs.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- AUSTRALIA (Australia won toss) M A Taylor c Rashid b Aqib 4 D C Boon c Shahid b Mutjaba 64 D M Jones b Waqar 84 S R Waugh c and b Mujtaba 5 M E Waugh b Waqar 12 *A R Border not out 14 I A Healy run out 3 A I C Dodemaide not out 15 Extras (3b, 2lb, 3w, 3nb) 11 Total (for 6, 50 overs) 212 Fall: 1-9 2-133 3-153 4-180 5-181 6-187. Did not bat: P R Reiffel, C J McDermott, T A May. Bowling: Wasim Akram 10-1-28-0 (1w, 1nb), Aqib Javed 8-0-39-1, Waqar Younis 10-0-39-2 (1nb), Aamir Sohail 5-0-27-0 (1nb), Shahid Saeed 8-0- 36-0 (2w), Asif Mujtaba 9-0-38-2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------- PAKISTAN Aamir Sohail c Healy b McDermott 3 Rameez Raja c Healy b S Waugh 40 Shahid Saeed b Dodemaide 3 Salim Malik b McDermott 37 *Javed Miandad c Border b M Waugh 40 Inzamam ul-Haq not out 39 Wasim Akram c M Waugh b Reiffe l3 Rashid Latif c Healy b Reiffe l5 Asif Mujtaba not out 5 Extras (b-1 lb-4) 5 Total (for 7, 50 overs) 180 Fall: 1-10 2-28 3-69 4-97 5-142 6-154 7-171. Did not bat: Waqar Younis, Aqib Javed. Bowling: McDermott 10-2-26-2, Dodemaide 8-0- 25-1, Reiffel 10-1-37-2, S Waugh 8-0-22-1, May 10-0-41-0, M Waugh 4-0-24-1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD SERIES CUP TABLE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P W L T Pts West Indies 8 5 3 0 10 Australia 7 4 2 1 9 Pakistan 7 1 5 1 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------