New Zealand vs Pakistan 2nd ODI: Dominant New Zealand crushes Pakistan again

By PakPassion Staff (3rd February, 2015)

Result : New Zealand win 2nd ODI by 119 runs : New Zealand 369/5 in 50 overs (Kane Williamson 112, Ross Taylor 102*) Pakistan 250 in 43.1 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 86, Ahmed Shehzad 55) 

Teams:

Pakistan XI: M Hafeez, A Shehzad, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), U Akmal, H Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), S Afridi, B Bhatti, M Irfan, Ehsan Adil.

New Zealand XI : B McCullum (c), Williamson, Boult, Elliott, Guptill, N McCullum, Milne, Ronchi (wk), Taylor, Vettori, Southee

Toss : New Zealand won toss and elected to bat first.

Final match of the two match series started with New Zealand winning the toss and opting to bat first.

Guptill and McCullum opened the innings against Irfan and Bhatti. The two openers started aggressively and took Bhatti to the cleaners earlier on forcing Misbah to bring in Afridi who got the prize wicket for Paksitan by getting McCullum bowled for 31. New Zealand were 44/1 when Williamson walked in at 3.

Guptill and Williamson had a good 128 run stand at the crease during which they both brought up their half centuries. Guptill was looking well set for a hundred before he threw his wicket away with a soft dismissal on the bowling of part timer Ahmed Shehzad. He went for 76 runs and the team's score was 171/2 when the in form Taylor arrived.

Taylor and Williamson built a 79 run stand where Williamson completely changed his gears and went for quick runs and scored most of the runs. Williamson reached his hundred and then got dismissed by Irfan on 112. Score was 250/3 when Elliott arrived, Their partnership lasted for 72 runs where Elliot could only score 28 and Taylor contributed 41 runs and completed his half century.

New Zealand were 322/4 when Ronchi arrived but he could not contribute anything as he went for a duck on Irfan's bowling. Score was 340 and Taylor went ballistic on Pakistan's bowling with boundaries and sixes and took the team total to 369/5 by the end of 50 overs.

Pakistan started their chase with Hafeez and Shehzad facing Southee and Boult. Hafeez started his innings cautiously where as Shehzad was more aggressive of the two and looked to score from the word go. He hit six boundaries in the first 10 overs alone and Pakistan took 10 overs to bring up their 50 score.

Hafeez who was struggling earlier on got lucky when Ronchi missed his stumping off Vettori's bowling but quickly after that Hafeez started to get in the groove and scored runs at a better pace. Couple of boundaries and sixes from Hafeez and both the openers reached their individual half centuries. Their partnership crossed 100 runs until Shehzad got dismissed on 55 on Nathan's bowling.

Pakistan were 111/1 when Younis Khan arrived, Only 19 runs were added to the team's total during Younis khan's stay where he contributed 11 runs before getting dismissed by Nathan. Score was 130/2 when Misbah walked at no.4, Hafeez who was now looking comfortable at the crease scored couple of boundaries and sixes more before he got dismissed by Elliot for 86. 

Pakistan were 173/3 when Afridi arrived to score some quick runs to meetup the run rate but could only add 11 runs today before being caught by cover fielder on Vettori's bowling. Umar walked in next and followed by Sohail and Sarfraz all three were limited to scoring one boundary only during their stay. Both Umar and Sohail got out to Milne on the scores 4 and 6 respectively where as Sarfraz got out on 13 by Elliot. A total middle and lower order collapse left Misbah standing alone at the crease.

Pakistan were 227/7 when Bhatti joined Misbah, Bhatti scored 9 runs before getting dismissed to Southee. Misbah followed him quickly after the two deliveries Southee got rid of Misbah on 45. Score was 250/9 and Ehsan Adil was the last man to go for Pakistan when he was dismissed on the score of 1 by Boult thus ending Pakistan's miserable batting performance.

Summary

Looking at the performances of Pakistan in the two match series one can only hope for some miracles to happen during the World Cup. The bowling is the biggest worry and is probably the weakest that Pakistan has fielded in last 2 years. New Zealand on the other hand were dominant during both matches in all three departments and are proving to everyone why they are being rated as one of the best sides in the World at the moment.

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