A five-wicket haul for Tim Southee and a blistering 55 by Jesse Ryder saw New Zealand shatter an 11-match losing streak in style with a nine-wicket win over Pakistan in their one-day match yesterday.
New Zealand were so dominant in the opening ODI of the six-match series that they took just 17.2 overs with the bat to wrap up the match after whipping Pakistan out for 124 at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
Under pressure to perform after being whitewashed in successive series against Bangladesh and India, New Zealand reshuffled their batting order, with swashbuckling opener Brendon McCullum dropped down to No. 6.
Photo: AFP
The aim was to give New Zealand strength at the top and tail, but McCullum never reached the wicket as his regular opening partner Jesse Ryder carved up the Pakistan attack in a whirlwind reply to an ineffective performance.
The only success for Pakistan was when captain Shahid Afridi won the toss and opted to bat, their day going downhill from there.
The Pakistan innings lasted just 37.3 overs and the outcome was almost inevitable once Ryder opened up in the fifth over of New Zealand’s innings, taking 17 off Shoaib Akhtar including two fours and a six.
He made his 55 in only 34 balls in a batting display which complemented the bowling of 22-year-old Southee, who assumed the role of New Zealand’s senior quick for the first time and claimed his first ODI five-wicket bag.
Southee destroyed Pakistan in three spells in which he ripped out the top order, came back to break up the middle and returned again to wrap up the innings.
His figures of five for 33 from 9.3 overs were backed up by three for 26 for Hamish Bennett, playing in only his third ODI and first at home, and two for 33 by the veteran Jacob Oram.
Only Misbah-ul-Haq produced an innings of substance for Pakistan, reaching 50 before he was bowled by Southee to end the innings.
However, the New Zealand openers Ryder and Martin Guptill showed there were no demons in the wicket as they put on 84 in 10 overs before Ryder’s departure.
Ryder brought up his 50 edging Abdul Razzaq for a single and in the following over took a single off Sohail Tanvir, before attempting to pick up the pace again.
He smacked another four and then went for back-to-back boundaries, only to pull the ball straight to Asad Shafiq on the mid-wicket boundary.
Guptill, averaging almost a run a ball, made an unbeaten 40, but it was Ross Taylor, promoted to No. 3 in the new-look New Zealand batting line up, who stroked the winning single, finishing on 23.
Pakistan’s innings were shaky from the start with Mohammad Hafeez dropped by McCullum in the first over, but falling soon after when he edged an out-swinger from Southee.
It was the start of a penetrating period for Southee in which he took the wickets of Kamran Akmal (8) and Asad Shafiq (4) to take three for 16 from his first spell of six overs, leaving Pakistan 32-3.
Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, who provided the backbone of each Pakistan innings in the Tests, set about repairing the situation, but had added only 28 for the fourth wicket when Bennett struck.
He had Younis caught behind for 24 and then dismissed Umar Akmal with his next delivery, caught at second-slip by Taylor.
Shahid Afridi avoided the hat-trick, but was dismissed by Southee in his second spell to have Pakistan 88-6 before the quick ended the Pakistan innings in his third turn with the ball by bowling Misbah.
INDIA VS S AFRICA
REUTERS, PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa leveled the one-day series at 2-2 by beating India by 48 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method after bad weather ruined the fourth match on Friday.
India, chasing 266 for victory, were 142 for six when rain ended play in the 33rd over. The fifth and final game in Centurion will be played today.
Earlier, J.P. Duminy rescued South Africa from a middle-order collapse to take them to 265 for seven at St George’s Park.
Duminy’s unbeaten 71 allowed the home team to recover from 118 for five after electing to bat first.
The left-hander had two able lower-order partners in Johan Botha (44) and Robin Peterson (31), sharing partnerships of 70 and 54 respectively for the sixth and seventh wickets.
Hashim Amla (64) set the early pace as he became the fastest batsman to score 2,000 runs in one-dayers. He needed just 40 innings to break the previous record of 45 shared by Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas and England’s Kevin Pietersen.
Spinner Yuvraj Singh took three for 34, while Virat Kohli featured in two run-outs and claimed a superb catch at slip to remove Morne van Wyk for 15.
Paceman Lonwabo Tsotsobe then removed India openers Rohit Sharma (1) and Parthiv Patel (11) in his first spell to put South Africa on top.
Yuvraj also fell to spinner Botha for 12 as the visitors slumped to 49 for three.
Kohli, though, smashed an impressive 87 not out in 92 balls to keep India in the game.
He hit two sixes and seven fours, but the regular flow of wickets at the other end meant he would have had a lot of work to do to carry his team to victory if rain had not intervened.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS