New Zealand broke their Sharjah duck overnight after defeating Pakistan by 4 wickets to square the one day international series. Having lost their previous ten matches in Sharjah, the Black Caps needed a calm Kane Williamson – who scored his sixth half century in his last seven matches – to see them over the line. Chasing 253 for victory the pursuit got off to the best possible start when Anton Devcich (58) and Dean Brownlie (47) eased the concerns hanging over the openers to put on 103 for the first wicket. Despite the start, New Zealand still needed their captain Williamson’s nous to get them hoe in the 46th over. Amongst a middle order collapse that saw Ross Taylor miss out on a fourth consecutive hundred, Williamson held firm and after watching several middle order colleagues throw wickets away, found able support from Luke Ronchi (36). Ronchi’s rapid cameo helped to ease any lingering doubt in the New Zealand camp and quickly put the result beyond doubt as the gap between us needed and balls remaining widened.
Williamson shouldn’t take all the praise however. The Black Cap’s seamers also played their part taking all ten wickets in Pakistan’s innings. Matt Henry and Mitchell McClenaghan were the chief destroyers albeit in different circumstances. Henry (4-45) took the bulk of his wickets at the top of the order helping dismiss four of the top six and reducing Pakistan to 20/3 at one stage. McClenaghan, notwithstanding the early wickets of Younis Khan (he got him twice, once off a no-ball) took his wickets at the end of the innings to finish with 3-56.
Pakistan will rue their inability to kick on from handy starts. Of their batsmen to cross 14 (there were 7 of them) only Mohammad Hafeez (76) passed 50. That left Shahid Afridi (27 from 14) with too much to do, and while he made a decent fist of it striking big blows off both Henry and Milne, he couldn’t sustain the attack and joined the others in failing to see out the allotted overs.
Haris Sohail was once again a big plus for the number four ranked ODI team with wickets and runs. He made 33 and took 3-48 in another fine all-round display. His efforts superseded Corey Anderson’s efforts as New Zealand’s all-rounder worries worsened, and helped mitigate the impact from Hafeez’s bowling ban.
A quick turnaround sees Sharjah host game three on Sunday. Of particular note are the potential injuries to Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq.
New Zealand 255 for 6 (Williamson 70, Devcich 58, Haris 3-48) beat Pakistan 252 (Hafeez 76, Misbah 47, Henry 4-45) by four wickets
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