Afridi, who holds the record for the fastest ever One-Day century, delighted the fair-sized crowd with sixes in every direction, including a massive one over the Players Pavilion and into the car park at the Southern end.

Whereas Afridi stole the spotlight, the West Indies' pair of Guyanese Carl Hooper and Jamaican Chris Gayle enjoyed a successful day by playing unbeaten in their two matches to clinch a semifinal spot in the lucrative US$175 000 dollars event where the first prize is US$65 000 dollars.

Hooper and Gayle combined excellently to beat England's duo of Andrew Flintoff and Adam Hollioake by seven runs in the day's first eight-over-a-side match and then returned to defeat Zimbabwe's Alistair Campbell and Guy Whittall by eight runs.

But the highlight of the day was Afridi's scintillating knock, which was also laced with four fours as he and his partner, the experienced Wasim Akram, lashed 127 runs (minus 20 for two dismissals) in eight overs off the hapless Zimbabwe's pair of Campbell and Whittall.

Afridi, whose 50 came off just 12 balls, was twice out so he was deducted 20 runs, reducing his final total to 73 while Akram contributed 29 runs.

Australia's Greg Blewett and John Davison endured mixed fortunes, defeating South Africa's Allan Donald and Steve Elsworthy by 37 runs but losing to Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva and Mahela Jayawardene minus 21 runs after their pair suffered nine dismissals, resulting from ill-advised big shots.

de Silva and Jayawardene had earlier lost to New Zealand's Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram by five runs.

Summarised scores

Match 1: West Indies beat England by 7 runs.

West Indies 39: Gayle 12, Hooper 15, 10 extras.

Hollioake 0-22, Flintoff 0-15.

England 32: Hollioake 8, Flintoff 22, 2 extras Hooper 1-18, Gayle 0-22.

Match 2: Australia beat South Africa by 37 runs.

South Africa - 10 Donald 16, Elworthy 3.

Davison 1-15, Blewett 1-25.

Australia 27: Davison 26, Blewett -4, 4 extras.

Donald 0-28, Elworthy 1-13.

Match 3: Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 64 runs.

Pakistan 107: Afridi 73, Akram 29.

Whittall 1-66, Campbell 1-57.

Zimbabwe 43: Campbell 33, Whittall 6.

Afridi 3-36, Akram 0-30.

Match 4: New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 5 runs.

Sri Lanka 26: Jayawardene 26, de Silva -3.

Vettori 3-28, Oram 0-28

New Zealand 31: Vettori 42, Oram -3.

Jayawardene 2-33, de Silva 1-27.

Match 5: West Indies beat Zimbabwe by 8 runs.

Zimbabwe 26: Campbell 3, Whittall 20, 3 extras.

Hooper 1-25, Gayle 2-29.

West Indies 34: Hooper 10, Gayle 21, 3 extras.

Campbell 0-21, Whittall 0-13

Match 6: Sri Lanka beat Australia by 75 runs.

Sri Lanka 54: Jayawardene 37, de Silva 16, extras 1.

Blewett 0-34, Davison 0-30.

Australia 21: Blewett -3, Davison -21.