Mohammad Hafeez scored his first one-day century and Shahid Afridi blasted the equal-fastest half-century in New Zealand as Pakistan leveled their one-day series against the hosts following a 43-run victory at Lancaster Park yesterday.
New Zealand never really challenged Pakistan’s imposing 293 for seven, with Martin Guptill (39), Jamie How (24), Scott Styris (46) and Kane Williamson (42) all getting starts, but leaving too many runs for the lower order to overhaul the total.
Skipper Afridi also cleverly rotated his bowlers, who expertly changed their pace and angles, bowled to their fields and took wickets just as New Zealand’s batsmen appeared set to push on.
Tim Southee (13 not out) hit a six off the last ball to drag New Zealand to 250 for nine. Hamish Bennett was with Southee on 4.
“We got a few starts and didn’t go on,” New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said in a televised interview. “All credit to them. I think Umar Gul bowled really well and took it away from us.”
The six-match series is locked at 1-1 after New Zealand won the first match in Wellington by nine wickets last week and the second in Queenstown was washed out.
Pakistan’s innings had been held together by Hafeez (115), who also shared a 94-run partnership with Misbah-ul-Haq (35) and 52 runs with Umar Akmal (44).
“I was just concentrating on the game. I missed a couple of opportunities in the Test series, so I was looking forward to scoring runs in this match,” Hafeez said. “We were all looking forward to winning this game ... and it was a good team effort.”
Afridi scored a blistering 65, which included five sixes and five fours, as he and Umar blasted a destructive 69-runs off 26 balls as Pakistan made full use of the final powerplay, scoring 126 runs in the last 10 overs.
Afridi’s half-century was brought up on his 19th delivery, equaling the fastest one-day international half-century scored in New Zealand, which is held by Brendon McCullum.
“I think you have to give credit to Shahid Afridi,” Taylor said. “He batted very well. The boundaries here are very small, but he cleared them with some massive sixes.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was