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Pakistan make short work of Kiwis
3 November 2009, 6:37 pm



Pakistan make short work of Kiwis

First one-day international, Abu Dhabi (Sheikh Zahed Stadium): Pakistan 287-9 beat New Zealand 149 by 138 runs

Match scorecard



Gul's two wickets got the ball rolling for Pakistan

Explosive batting from Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal helped Pakistan establish a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand.Playing at their adopted home in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan recovered from a poor start with the bat to hit 287-9.

Their innings included a trademark blitz from Afridi (70 from 50 balls) and some equally muscular hitting from Akmal (67 not out from 43 balls).

New Zealand collapsed for a dismal 149, to lose by a wide margin of 138 runs.

The Black Caps went into the series already depleted with Jesse Ryder, Grant Elliott and Daryl Tuffey unable to tour due to various injuries.

At the toss, Daniel Vettori explained that two further bowlers - Kyle Mills and James Franklin - were unfit. Tim Southee, with no international cricket in seven months, came into the starting line-up.

For Pakistan, Salman Butt, who was dropped for the Champions Trophy campaign, opened the batting with Khalid Latif, a 23-year-old right-hander who had been given one previous ODI, in January 2008.



Afridi was in the runs and the wickets in Abu Dhabi

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first, but Butt and skipper Younus Khan fell to a pumped-up Shane Bond for ducks and Pakistan made painfully slow progress as they reached 93-4 from 28 overs.

But Afridi, though new to the crease, nonchalantly hit Vettori for one six before quickly adding two more off the other slow bowler, Nathan McCullum.

Afridi then hit four boundaries off the seamers before contriving to paddle a full-toss to short fine-leg, and a few overs later Latif (64 off 112 balls) was removed by Vettori.

But Akmal hit four sixes, two off Ian Butler, as New Zealand's bowlers really came under pressure late on, with Abdul Razzaq (26 off 20) also enjoying himself.

That left New Zealand needing nearly six an over from the start of their chase, and the openers found Mohammad Aamer tough to score off, while Umar Gul supplied the early wickets as both Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill played on.

In the 11th over, Ross Taylor edged the impressive Aamer to slip to leave the score 35-3 and New Zealand were left with a desperately tough task.

Aaron Redmond's patient 52 was never going to be enough in the circumstances, and Pakistan's bowlers continued their domination, with Saeed Ajmal (3-18) the pick of them, to close out the match in the 40th over.



Source: BBC Sport | Cricket | World Edition