THE cricket supporters of Pakistan unfortunately seem to be occupying the headlines rather than the team they support, which after the fright of letting England win the first test by an innings, seems to have made a good recovery and has done well in the triangular one day internationals.

They will play in the final of this tournament at Lords tomorrow against Australia, the team which broke the spirit in the final of the last World Cup, also played at Lords.

Although Pakistan put up a magnificent performance against Australia at Trent Bridge on Tuesday and convincingly beat the best cricket team in the world, their victory has been overshadowed by the behaviour of some of their so called fans, some of whom seem to be suffering from a 'mixture of adrenaline and hormones', to quote one of the serious papers.

No one I have met or talked to in the Asian community likes what a minority of these mindless idiots are doing at the cricket matches where Pakistan participate as it takes the attention away from the performance of their team and brings the name of their community into disrepute.

At the same time, many Pakistani, and to some extent other Asian people, are concerned with the way the British media blow the juvenile antics out of all proportion and make a mountain out of a molehill.

I very much hope that the authorities at Lords will have sufficient security to prevent people from encroaching on to the boundary in the first place.

They could eject troublemakers from the ground and mark their fingernails or piece of their hair with something so that these people cannot gain re-entry.

Above all, I hope that the final will be a true exhibition of the better cricketing skills of the two top one-day teams in the world.