Shoaib the 23-year-old with the forbidding advance reputation of being the fastest man in the game says:

Shoaib, the 23-year-old with the forbidding advance reputation of being the fastest man in the game, says: ''We are half legends and half youngsters It's a healthy sign, sir. The young players are already winning matches.''Shoaib had played a key part in the recent defeat of India at Calcutta, when he bowled Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in successive deliveries, both beaten by pace. He had virtually won another in Durban a year earlier, taking five South African wickets for 43.These youngster are not afraid of the legends either. (The only fear Shoaib confesses to is the high expectations for him.) As for the legends, they are not aloof from the kids. When Wasim tells you that Shoaib speaks with an Irish accent, it is a good-natured exaggeration designed to let you know that he experienced English wickets when he played for a season in Ireland. (He also toured England with Pakistan A a couple of seasons ago.)In fact, Shoaib speaks English with a Pakistan accent, and he expresses himself in a way that would be quite foreign to a young English professional He gives the credit for his talent and his selection to God.

Style and tactics he attributes to good relations with his team-mates and a lot of hard work.Shoaib is slight for a bowler who is so quick. To judge his height, I asked him to stand up, and suggested 5ft 11in That sounded right to him. He showed me his hands, which are small and look soft and added: "not so good for gripping the ball". He is not the broad shouldered, brooding presence of Waqar Younis (rested yesterday), or the lithe, athletic figure of Wasim.Pakistan's greatest strength is the depth and balance of the bowling. Three world-class bowlers and another youngster named Saqlain Mushtaq who is probably the best off-spinner in the game. To follow up that mighty salvo, there are talented all-rounders like Shahid Afridi, aged 20, Abdur Razzaq, only 19, and Azhar Mahmood, who is all of 24.All three batted yesterday; all showed they are capable of scoring runs.

Afridi batted rather wildly for 17, Razzaq powerfully for 34, but Pakistan had to rely on the legends to get them to a respectable 272 for 8 in 50 overs.At the start of the innings Saeed Anwar batted with the wristy precision that has caused so much pain to England bowlers. When he plays the ball at waist height through the vacant area where second slip would have stood, you don't think he was lucky On the contrary, you assume he meant it. The only way Derbyshire were able to get him out was by a direct hit on the stumps at the bowler's end by Trevor Smith running in from mid- on.The solid centre of the innings came from a 36-year-old, Salim Malik, and the 30-year-old veteran Ijaz Ahmed. Both showed that age is no deterrent to running sharply between the wickets. Ijaz drove powerfully for six, Salim drove powerfully through the covers and by the time they were out in successive overs, they had put on 113 in 20 overs.

Ijaz was top scorer, his 74 containing that one six and five fours. Derbyshire had done what was asked of them and provided decent opposition for a warm-up game. They used only five bowlers and none of them had been made fools of. Phillip DeFreitas and Matthew Cassar both took 2-43 off their 10 overs.. NEW ZEALAND tuned up for the World Cup campaign with an emphatic win over Hampshire in an abbreviated contest.

In the afternoon they must have regarded any play as a bonus, because the rain that swirled in at lunchtime seemed capable of lasting until the competition is over. Some of the squads must be wondering why this week's matches are called "warm-ups". Cricket could hardly have been colder or more blustery than it was at Southampton yesterday morning, as if the recent Bank Holiday heat wave had been a cruel illusion. The Press tent creaked and swayed like the crows' nest of the Hispaniola, and New Zealand, having chosen to bowl, took to the field billowing like green Michelin men.The world's batsmen need solid practice on early-season British turf - though the World Cup is often a batsman's contest, the greasy conditions here could set problems for the top-order batsmen.The Kiwis, however, with their stingy bowling and exhilarating batting, treated yesterday as if it was just another breezy day in Dunedin. Of the Test-playing countries, they start at longer odds than any bar Zimbabwe, but they did not behave like it yesterday.Their mixed bowling attack is typified by Chris Harris. At first sight he looks like third change in a weekend club match, on the slow side of medium and "doing a bit".But each over disguises subtle changes of pace and flight, and though he left an inviting hole in the field between deep mid-wicket and long- off, no Hampshire batsman quite dared to take him on.