Younus Khan's Debt of Honour:
This afternoon Younus Khan will lead his Pakistan team at Lord's – the headquarter's of cricket for the first World Cup that his team has contested at the hallowed ground. The batsman who loves this ground is one of the few of the few of country-men to have hit a triple century in Test cricket – the great Hanif Mohammad and Inzamam ul-Haq are the others.

Khan acknowledges that he owes a great debt to an Englishman who believed in him during the lean years of 2004 and 2005. He worked hard with the future Pakistan captain and turned him into one of the most accomplished batsmen in the world.

The Bob Woolmer Effect:

After bringing his innovative methods to coaching on the international scene with South Africa, Woolmer mistakenly placed his trust in the disgraced Hansie Cronje. He then moved to Pakistan. Khan credits him with helping to revive Pakistani cricket, especially his own. He believes that Woolmer is partly responsible for helping his country to reach this final. He wants to win it for Woolmer, who died in the Caribbean two years ago during a terrible World Cup campaign in the 50 overs format.

“I’m missing him lots,” said Khan, “because I was in and out in 2004 and 5 and then he took over as the coach, so he’s helping me – helping lot of people – a lot of players at that time. I think if I win I will straight away dedicate final victory to him. He’s very fantastic and I’m missing him, because he was very helpful and he has a lot of work with us and I think we are still missing [him – everybody, not only me.”