Cricket Recap: New Zealand thrash Pakistan in the first One Day International
After winning the test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wellington-c864 in New Zealand on 22
January. However, the only thing Pakistan did right on the day was to call the right side of the coin. Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat. The decision proved to be a poor one as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 crumbled for just 124 runs.
Pakistan played a poor combination and got what they deserved. Despite being aware of the fact that the pitches in New Zealand assist fast bowlers, Pakistan had just two fast bowlers and Abdul Razzaq as a third option in their
bowling attack. The team had four spinners and the captain missed the trick to bowl first.
After opting to bat first, Pakistan’s top order could not sustain the lethal Kiwi bowlers. Tim Southee’s contribution topped the damage list as he bagged five wickets. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamish-Kyle-Bennett-c61366, playing in his third One Day International
bewildered the Pakistani batsmen, as they could not comprehend his unusual bowling style. As a result, he earned three wickets for just 26 runs accounting for his career best bowling figures. Jacob Oram took two wickets and one of them was of the dangerous
Abdul Razzaq.
In the Pakistan innings, only three players reached double figures. Younis Khan scored 24 runs off 35 bowls while skipper Shahid Afridi uncharacteristically played a slower innings and scored just 15 runs after facing 29 balls.
However, the only player to put up a steady performance was vice-captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972, as he scored a gutsy 50 off 88 balls. He hit three boundaries and one six in his decent innings.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 is under severe scrutiny and after losing the match, he said, "We lost too many early wickets. The ball was swinging and seaming a lot. Misbah played a very responsible innings. We'll definitely step up in the next
game. Tanvir is coming back after a long time. Shoaib was struggling a bit. But we have good bench strength there."
After winning the match, a rare occasion for Daniel Vettori in the recent past, the Kiwi skipper stated, "It was a good win for us after a long time. Tim Southee produced some great swing. We knew he's a bowler who can bowl really
well always, and he put it all together in this series so far."
Man of the match, Tim Southee said, "The ball was swinging around, and I was lucky to pick up the wickets while the others did a good job. Good to have Allan Donald around. Bit stiff after the Tests, but nice and fresh today."
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