A stroke-filled maiden limited-overs international century from Imran Nazir helped Pakistan confirm their place in the finals of tri-nation 2000 Trophy Series, when they comprehensively beat Zimbabwe by six wickets at the Queen's Park Stadium on Saturday.

Teenager Imran struck ten fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 105 off 133 balls to anchor Pakistan to the magic number of 205, after Zimbabwe were restricted to a modest 204 for seven off 50 overs.

It was Pakistan's second win in the series and they will face West Indies in the three-match finals in Bridgetown (April 19) and Port-of-Spain (April 22 and 23).

The two finalists however, will get warmed-up for the real thing when they contest the final preliminary match on Sunday here.

The defeat meant Zimbabwe ended their first tour of the Caribbean winless and they will hope for greater success when they travel to England for a series of two-Tests and a tri-nation tournament also involving West Indies.

The 18-year-old Imran, playing in his tenth limited-overs match for Pakistan, had scores of six and nought in the two previous matches and his place in the side appeared tenuous for Saturday's encounter.

He responded to the challenge however, with a barrage of shots that left his opponents bewildered and helped his side recover from their 96-run defeat to West Indies on Wednesday in Kingstown.

Pakistan were given a flourishing start of 49 in eight overs from Imran and Shahid Afridi, who was caught at cover off medium-paced bowler Andy Blignaut, playing his first match of the series.

While Imran was literally having his way with the bowling, but Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana made it look quite difficult before Pakistan declined to 78 for three in the 17th over.

Younis was caught and bowled by left-arm spin bowler Dirk Viljoen in the 16th over and Yousuf was bowled by fast-medium bowler Heath Streak in the 17th over.

A stand of 63 between Imran and Inzamam-ul-Haq put Pakistan firmly on course for their result.

The two were never troubled at anytime by the bowling, although Inzamam appeared to have been lucky lucky with an lbw verdict early in his innings.

In the 33rd over, Guy Whittall had Inzamam caught behind for 34 off 51 balls with Pakistan 141 for four.

Imran and captain Moin Khan made sure Pakistan would not lose another wicket with an unbroken stand of 64. Moin was not out on 35 off 36 balls.

Earlier, Zimbabwe were given their best opening stand of the series, but fail to mount a total to serious challenge Pakistan.

Opening batsmen Neil Johnson and Craig Wishart shared 84 in 22.4 overs, but Zimbabwe's batsmen were tied down by Pakistan's bowlers, whose Arshad Khan led the way with three wickets for 45 runs from ten overs.

It was leg-spin bowler Mushtaq Ahmed in particular and Abdur Razzaq, whose bowling really restricted Zimbabwe's scoring in the heart of their innings.

Abdur made the breakthrough when Wishart, whose 45 off 67 balls was the top score, flicked to mid-wicket in the 23rd over.

Zimbabwe never got it going after his dismissal, although Johnson hit four boundaries in 43 off 88 balls and there was a stand of 59 for the fourth-wicket between Murray Goodwin and captain Andy Flower.