5th ODI: Pakistan set http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 a challenging total
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 amassed 268 runs after batting first against New Zealand in the fifth match of the six-match One-day International series being played at Hamilton.
The visitors are leading the series by 2-1 and it is a must-win situation for the hosts in order to stay alive in the series.
Kiwi stand-in captain Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 won the toss and elected to field first. The wicket did not have much assistance for the bowlers but Taylor believed that the fast bowlers would get some early movement off the deck.
The highlight of the innings was Ahmed Shehzad’s maiden century in ODI cricket. However, the youngster did not get much support from the other batsmen which restricted Pakistan from posting a big total.
Pakistan batsman could not form a big partnership in the match and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Mohammad Hafeez scored 14 runs before he popped the ball straight to the fielder at mid-off.
Kamran Akmal has been struggling for form throughout the series and he has not been able to score many runs at his newly assigned one-down position. He was run out after scoring 17 runs.
Younis Khan and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 also failed to carry onto the starts they got and gave their wickets away at vital stages of the match.
Younis scored 21 promising runs and swept a quicker ball from Nathan McCullum which ballooned straight into the hands of Scott Styris in the deep. Misbah could not score big and fell after scoring 25 runs.
Even though wickets kept on tumbling at the other end, Shehzad kept his cool and carried onto a superb innings of 115 runs off just 109 balls. His innings included 12 fours and 3 sixes.
The youngster is definitely a player to watch out for in the World Cup. Not many teams have seen him bat and he can surprise his opponents with his exceptional talent.
After the wicket of Shehzad, the pair of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 and Umar Akmal that destructed Kiwi bowling in the third ODI came to the crease.
However, they could only manage small cameos and got out at crucial stages of the match. Afridi scored 24 off 20 balls whereas Umar managed a run-a-ball 32 before being dismissed.
Last 22 balls were not very productive for the Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723 as only 18 runs were scored off them.
Kyle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris took two wickets each for New Zealand in the match.
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