1st ODI
New Zealand 280/8 (50.0 ov)
Pakistan 210 (46.0 ov)
New Zealand won by 70 runs
New Zealand were on the ropes at 99 for 6, and already missing their three most experienced players, were further hamstrung by an injury to Mitchell McClenaghan. Yet, as they have done time and again at home in recent years, they swung, scrapped and thought themselves to a 70-run victory, finding heroes in unlikely places, and fielding impeccably in defence of their 280 for 8.
That score was founded on a measured 82 from Henry Nicholls, in just his second ODI series. Mitchell Santner had lent him a hand in the rebuild, adding 48, but the surprising stars of the innings batted at No. 9 and 10. Matt Henry and McClenaghan's 73-run ninth-wicket partnership came off 33 balls. The rollicking stand, which featured six sixes and as many fours, propelled New Zealand to a competitive score on a quick, bouncy surface.
New Zealand lost McClenaghan's services with the ball when an Anwar Ali bouncer burst through the gap in his helmet and struck him in the left eye. The hosts took the field again as McClenaghan was receiving stitches on his eyebrow, but they hardly missed him. Grant Elliott, who may not have expected to bowl all his overs in normal circumstances, made the initial breakthroughs with the ball, dismissing both openers and taking a middle-order scalp later, to finish with figures of 3 for 43 from his full quota.
Pakistan's seamers shone brightly in the first quarter of the match, as Anwar Ali, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Irfan all sent down intense spells, but all the ground they earned in those initial bursts was ceded by the end of New Zealand's innings. Amir was also seen hobbling off the field part-way through his eighth over, but did later return to bat.
There was a good 62 by Babar Azam, in the chase, but having moved at barely three runs an over in the Powerplay, Pakistan were always chasing a rising required rate. They lost wickets through the middle overs, and the lower order was cleaned up by Trent Boult, who took 4 for 40. Pakistan were eventually dismissed for 210 in the 46th over.
Nicholls innings was notable for its maturity. He was dropped once early in his innings, but seemed a clever operator once he settled down, finding square boundaries early, then settling into a steady beat of singles and twos. He held firm through the hosts' many stutters, and only fell searching for quick runs in the 45th over, having struck seven fours in his innings.
Henry's unbeaten 48 off 30 balls was much more manic. He combined with McClenaghan and launched the charge in the 46th over, when they reaped three sixes in four balls off Wahab Riaz's short deliveries. The rest of the innings was a mix of clean striking and streaky, edged boundaries, as Pakistan failed to consistently bowl yorkers. McClenaghan even ventured two lap-scoops off Anwar, both of which brought boundaries. His part in the mayhem was 31 off 18.
Each of Pakistan's quicks had played his role in the early surge. Irfan dismissed Martin Guptill with a bouncer, and Amir followed it up, dismissing Tom Latham with a short ball. Anwar Ali's inswing inflicted a double-blow to the middle order: Kane Williamson edged a delivery onto his stumps to end a typically indifferent innings, before a leaden-footed Elliott saw the ball pass between bat and pad to splay his own stumps, two balls later. Wahab, while wicketless, occasionally rattled the batsmen with pace.
Nicholls grafted smartly following those losses, shelving the expansive drives he had played earlier in the innings, but his partners continued to desert him. Amir matched Anwar Ali's fire in his second spell, having Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi edging behind in quick succession. His teammates greeted him warmly at each breakthrough.
Santner had his defensive technique tested early on, but was soon driving and pulling confidently. Pakistan had set fire to New Zealand's innings at his arrival, but he and Nicholls put out those flames with their 79-run stand, before the tail came good in explosive fashion.
The pursuit began sedately; Pakistan's openers managing only 23 from the first seven overs before a handsome leg-side six for Azhar Ali enlivened the start a little, if briefly. But he was out top-edging a heave against Elliott soon after, and when Ahmed Shehzad holed out to the same bowler soon after, Pakistan's crawling beginning was not even for the security of wickets.
The scoring sped up after the Powerplay, but the acceleration was too gradual. By the end of the 15th over, the require rate had risen to 6.6. Babar and Mohammad Hafeez put on a sage 81-run stand off 93 balls to move Pakistan to a reasonable position - Babar especially quick to crash the short balls to the fence - but the required rate only kept heading north. When Hafeez was swallowed at long-on for 42 in the 27th over, Pakistan still needed 163 from 141 balls. Sohaib Maqsood continued his poor tour with a 16-ball 10, before Azam himself fell, having crossed fifty. Aiming to make something of a flagging chase, he tried to pull a short Anderson ball, and sent the top edge to midwicket.
There was a sliver of hope as long as Sarfraz Ahmed was at the crease, but having hit three fours in his busy innings, he cracked a full delivery to deep midwicket in the 43rd over. He had made 30 from 29. With him went any real chance of a Pakistan victory.
2nd ODI
New Zealand
Pakistan
Match abandoned without a ball bowled
The second ODI, in Napier, was abandoned without a ball being bowled, after heavy rain persisted until mid afternoon, and left the ground too sodden for play to begin. The skies had begun to clear well ahead of the game's cut-off time of 7:19 pm, but with the outfield having received more than 24 hours of persistent rain, umpires Billy Bowden and Bruce Oxenford decided not to risk player safety.
The game was called off just before 6:30pm. At that time, portions of the field still appeared waterlogged despite hours of drying with super soppers. Pakistan can now only draw the series at best, as the action moves to Auckland, for the final match of the tour, on Sunday.
3rd ODI
New Zealand 265 for 7 (Williamson 84, Guptill 82) beat Pakistan 290 (Azam 83, Hafeez 76) by three wickets (D/L method)
There was a large top-order stand and a middle-overs collapse from either team, and perhaps it was an umpiring error that separated the sides in the end. New Zealand needed 53 from 45 balls when play resumed after a rain delay. They got home with two balls to spare, and three wickets in hand - Mitchell Santner providing the blows to quell the Pakistan quicks' final charge.
Pakistan fined for slow over-rate
Pakistan captain Azhar Ali has been fined 20% of his match fee for maintaining a slow over rate during his team's three-wicket defeat against New Zealand in Auckland. His team-mates have been docked 10% of their match fees.
The charge was laid by on-field umpires Billy Bowden and Nigel Llong, third umpire Bruce Oxenford and fourth umpire Derek Walker. The fine was imposed by David Boon of the elite panel of ICC match referees after Pakistan were ruled to be one over short of their target once time allowances were taken into consideration.
Azhar will face a suspension if Pakistan commit another over-rate breach within the next 12 months under his captaincy.
Chasing a revised 263 from 43 overs, the match had been finely balanced in the home stretch before two gaffes in five balls put the hosts in control. The first was a botched chance in the deep, as Mohammad Hafeez spilled Luke Ronchi's mis-hit pull, after diving forward to get both hands to it. The next was a botched decision from umpire Billy Bowden, who failed to hear an edge off Corey Anderson's blade in the 39th over, leaving bowler Rahat Ali and his fielders in disbelief. If Pakistan had got that wicket, they would have had Santner batting alongside the out-of-sorts Ronchi, with 38 still needed off the last 24 balls. What they got instead was two successive sixes from Anderson, who had been suitably stoic during that appeal - not even chancing a glance back at the keeper.
Thirteen runs were scored off the next over, bringing the requirement to 13 runs from 18 balls, before Pakistan worked themselves up for another late push. Wahab bowled Ronchi at the end of a 41st over that cost only three runs. Then Mohammad Irfan had Anderson caught at deep midwicket, conceding only four runs from the penultimate over. The hosts now needed six from six.
As it turned out, New Zealand had reserved enough batting quality for the end. Santner drilled the first ball of the last over through the covers, and though Wahab responded with two dot-balls, Santner found a leg-side boundary to seal the match, and the series 2-0.
Before rains intervened after 35.3 overs, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill had provided the perfect foundation for the chase of 291, hitting 84 and 82 respectively. New Zealand lost Brendon McCullum to Mohammad Amir's first ball, but their two form batsmen gave the chase a surging start. Guptill smoked Irfan high over long off in the third over, before Williamson hit boundaries on either side of the wicket, off the same bowler's next over.
Amir, though, seaming and slippery, made trouble for both batsmen. He hit Guptill's pad twice, raising voracious appeals, one of which Pakistan burned their review on. And he threatened the edge numerous times, angling the ball across the right handers, then seaming it back at them. Williamson had both edges beaten in the 10th over - the last of Amir's first spell, which yielded figures of 1 for 15 from five overs. The other bowlers had not been nearly as good. The hosts took 52 from the Powerplay despite Amir's parsimony.
The batsmen settled into smooth accumulation when the field relaxed. There were occasional eruptions, like when Williamson smoked a six and a four off Irfan in the 14th over, but the partnership merely bubbled for the most part. The run rate continued to be better than what was required. By the 20th over, New Zealand had hit 118, Guptill having crossed 50 and Williamson closing in on his.
It would eventually be part-time legspin that broke the partnership. Azhar Ali had gone for 16 in his first two overs, but kept himself on, and got Guptill to send an outside edge to point in the 26th over. By then the partnership had grown to 159 - a record for the second wicket for New Zealand, just two weeks after the same pair had also broken the overall T20 partnership record. Azhar had Williamson stumped in his next over as well, weakening New Zealand from 165 for 1 to 180 for 3. When Amir came back to trap Henry Nicholls in front soon after, Pakistan were back in the match. When Grant Elliott fell just as the hour-long rain delay began, New Zealand had slipped to 210 for 5.
Pakistan's innings had followed a similar pattern; two top order batsmen putting the team in control, before their dismissals in sight of centuries sparked a stutter from the middle order. Babar Azam struck 83 from 77 balls and Mohammad Hafeez made 76 from 60, hitting five sixes and as many fours. Together they made 134 runs for the third wicket, off 107 balls.
Coming together after Trent Boult and Matt Henry had removed the openers cheaply, Hafeez and Azam made the innings spark. Striking two fours apiece just after the Powerplay ended, they pushed the run rate above six in the 12th over, and it continued to creep north of there. Hafeez hit his second six when he ran at Santner and lifted him over the sightscreen in the 13th over. Azam largely preferred to keep the ball along the ground.
In between the big shots, there were ample runs into the outfield. Hafeez' big straight six to pass 50 in the 19th over brought another swell of boundaries. He hit two more sixes in quick succession - off Milne and Santner - inspiring Azam to venture a big straight blow as well. The 21st over, bowled by Santner, cost 20 runs, having yielded two sixes and a four, but he was kept in the attack, and broke the partnership in his next over. Hafeez attempted to hit a square six for the first time in his innings, and wound up mishitting his sweep to the deep square leg fielder.
Azam continued to reap regular boundaries alongside Shoaib Malik, with whom he consolidated Pakistan's advantage. The total crossed 200 in the 30th over, and the pair's partnership moved to 61 from 48 balls before Malik was caught behind, cutting a Boult ball close to his body. The wicket set off Pakistan's middle order stutter. Azam was soon out, also cutting, this time middling a Henry delivery directly to backward point, where Guptill claimed the third of his four catches in the innings.
Sarfraz Ahmed attempted to glue the back end of Pakistan's innings together, but kept losing partners. Milne blew the tail away with three late wickets, and the visitors were all out in the 48th over.
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