New Zealand square series with easy win over Pak

Saturday, November 7, 2009 -- New Zealand beat Pakistan convincingly by 64 runs in the second game at Abu Dhabi to square the three game ODI series. The third match of the series will be played on Monday.

The Kiwis won the toss and decided to bat first. Brendon McCullum, who has been undergoing a horrific run of batting form opened the innings with Aaron Redmond, and despite the latter’s early dismissal, continued to bat on with gay abandon. His partnership of 126 runs with Martin Guptill for the second wicket, raised hopes of a total of 300, before the Kiwis lost their way.

Guptill and Ross Taylor departed on the same score, and when Scot Styris left, it was 160/4 and the Kiwis in trouble. McCullum then joined hands with his captain to add 54 for the fifth wicket, and the ensuing batting Powerplay ensured that the Kiwis ended with 303 in their fifty overs. McCullum scored a massive 131, his highest score in months now.

The Pakistanis replied well with a 77-run partnership between Khalid Latif and Salman Butt for the first wicket. However, they took more than 16 overs to do so and that meant that the Pakistanis needed to get a move. The captain Younus Khan changed the batting order around and got Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal at number four and five, but it was then left to the pair of Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq to get them close.

In the end, the mounting asking run-rate proved to be a trifle too much and the Pakistanis collapsed to 239 all out in 47.2 overs. McCullum’s century won him the man of the match award.