New Zealand fight hard to reach 262 in fourth ODI
The fourth match of the six match one-day International (ODI) series between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 is being played today at Napier. The series is nicely poised at 1-1.
Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch didn’t seem to have too much assistance for the bowlers. However, the batsmen struggled initially, but the home team managed to end their innings on a competitive total of 262 runs.
The Kiwi team seemed to have a plan as they were attacking from one end and defending from the other. Both the openers, Martin Guptill and Jamie How, started the innings with a 40-run partnership.
Guptill failed to capitalise on his start yet again as he was out after scoring 21 runs off 17 balls. The next wicket to fall was that of How. He got out after struggling to score 13 runs off 29 balls.
Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 failed to make an impression yet again and was out after scoring just four runs. The hosts seemed to be in trouble as they slumped to 44 for the loss of three wickets after a good start of 40 for no wicket.
Kane Williamson and Scott Styris tried to steady the innings but things got worse for the home team as Styris misjudged a run and was caught short of his crease. Williamson also got out trying to lift the scoring rate and the Kiwi team was 79 for the loss
of five wickets in 20.3 overs.
The fall of five quick wickets brought Brendon McCullum and James Franklin to the crease. The pair took the team out of trouble with a solid 62-run partnership. McCullum lost focus and was dismissed after scoring 37 runs.
The sixth wicket partnership boosted the confidence of the lower middle-order. Nathan McCullum joined Franklin at the crease and both players rotated the strike to take the team to a safe position.
Franklin didn’t miss-out on the start he got to his innings and scored a brilliant half-century in the match. He was out after scoring a solid 62 runs off 75 balls.
Nathan McCullum made sure that his team played out the complete 50 overs. He played a superb knock of 53 runs off 58 balls and remained unbeaten until the end. Vettori supported him and remained not-out on 13 off 15 balls.
Wahab Riaz took three wickets for Pakistan and got good support from Adul http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 who took one wicket for just 16 runs in his seven-over spell. The spinners also bowled decently but Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir were disappointing as they gave away too many
runs without picking up any wickets.
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