Pakistan vs. New Zealand, 1st T20I: Tim Southee’s five-wicket haul earned http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 an easy win
Tim Southee’s five-wicket haul was well complemented by Martin Guptill’s whirlwind half-century as New Zealand sealed a five-wicket win over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the opening T20 International at Eden Park on Sunday, the 26th of
December. 22-year-old Southee swept through the Pakistan line-up to restrict the tourists to 143 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs before Guptill entertained his home crowd with a fearless 54 coming through just 29 balls, ensuring a comfortable run chase for
the hosts with 17 balls to spare and five wickets still intact. The victory in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Auckland-c766 helped the Kiwis break an 11-match losing streak.
Afridi’s men began reasonably well, reaching 58 for one in the sixth over before running into a red-hot Tim Southee who struck five times in two overs to derail the visiting middle-order. Thanks to the late hitting of pacers Umar
Gul (30 off 31 balls) and Wahab Riaz (30 not out – with both Gul and Riaz sharing the top-scoring honours for Pakistan), the tourists amassed a respectable total of 143.
Pakistan openers Mohammad Hafeez and captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 got their team off to a rapid start with the latter leading from the front in his
Boom Boom style, hitting two sixes and a four in his 12-ball 20 before he top-edged Kyle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321 to Southee - one of Afridi’s common dismissal modes – as the wickets of the tourists began to tumble. Hafeez was then joined by teenager Ahmed Shehzad, standing
in his just 3rd T20 International – as the Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723 kept the foot on the pedal, rocketing to 50 in just five overs.
Then came the medium-pacer from Northland, Tim Southee, who crippled the Pakistan innings using pace, movement and bounce to torment the batsmen on the quick and hard Auckland track - leaving Pakistan reeling at 68 for 6 by the
10th over. Southee’s assault included a hat-trick as well which saw fluent opener Hafeez, middle-order veteran Younis Khan and the emerging talent Umar Akmal losing their wickets on the second, third and fourth ball of the 8th over, though
Akmal was wrongly given out leg before.
Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz then took charge of pushing their side towards a respectable total, hitting a flurry of sweetly-timed boundaries in the death overs. Both the tail-enders scored invaluable thirties; however, Southee’s belligerent
assault had done irreparable damage to the Pakistan line-up. Southee finished with his career-best figures of 5 for 18 from his spell of four overs while Kyle Mills returned with 3 for 37 from 4 overs.
The Black Caps, being led by 24-year-old aggressive opener Martin Guptill, went off to a rollicking chase with the Auckland opener looting Abdul Razzaq for a six and two fours in the opening over that went for 15. The next over
saw Guptill’s opening partner Jesse Ryder losing his wicket at six runs but the former continued his form despite the loss, hoisting the express pacer Shoaib Akhtar for a muscular six on the leg side before Akhtar removed the debutant http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dean-Brownlie-c1349 in the
fourth over to leave the hosts at 45 for 2 on the board.
That took Scott Styris to the crease, who struck his second ball for a lively six but the aggressiveness hit back as Akhtar broke his stumps while the batsman went for an ill-advised hit in the opening ball of the 6th
over. Though the wickets were rattling at the other end, Guptill kept going, boosting the score to 55 in five overs. Guptill scripted his maiden T20 half-century off 23 balls. The impressive innings ended when the fluent opener was run out at the striker’s
end off Mohammad Hafeez’s throw while attempting a needless run.
Skipper Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 then took charge of wrapping up the chase and played an unbeaten knock of 39 runs as the Kiwis reached the target on the first ball of the 18th over. Southee was declared man-of-the match for his
five-wicket haul.
Tags: