Pakistan vs. New Zealand, 2nd T20I, 2014: Highlights, Scorecard and Report
New Zealand beat Pakistan by 17 runs in the second Twenty20 international at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, squaring the two-match series at 1-1. The result was confirmed by the Black Caps’ official Twitter account:
"Tanvir hits high from @kylemills79 and @BigCall13 gets underneath it, that's it! @BLACKCAPS win by 17 runs, T20 series ends 1-1 #PAKvNZ ^RI
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) December 5, 2014"
A counter attack from wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi helped New Zealand make the most of their innings after losing a host of early wickets. But even with Ronchi's efforts considered a top score from Kane Williamson of 32 from a ponderous 31 deliveries meant victory was always going to come down to the bowlers.
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And they delivered in earnest, with the spin of Anton Devcich and Daniel Vettori proving to be too good for the Pakistani top order; Kyle Mills and James Neesham took over from there, helping themselves to figures of 3-26 and 3-25 respectively.
Here’s the full scorecard from the match and a recap of the action:
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | |
| AP Devcich | b Mohammad Hafeez | 21 | 20 | |
| KS Williamson* | b Shahid Afridi | 32 | 31 | |
| DG Brownlie | lbw b Shahid Afridi | 0 | 2 | |
| LRPL Taylor | lbw b Raza Hasan | 7 | 13 | |
| TWM Latham | c Anwar Ali b Umar Gul | 26 | 22 | |
| L Ronchi† | c Ahmed Shehzad b Sohail Tanvir | 31 | 19 | |
| JDS Neesham | not out | 7 | 4 | |
| DL Vettori | b Umar Gul | 3 | ||
| NL McCullum | run out (Ahmed Shehzad/†Sarfraz Ahmed) | 3 | ||
| KD Mills | not out | 6 | 3 | |
| Extras | (w 10) | 10 | ||
| Total | 144 | 144 | ||
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| Anwar Ali | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Sohail Tanvir | 4 | 0 | 30 | 1 |
| Umar Gul | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 |
| Raza Hasan | 4 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| Mohammad Hafeez | 2 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| Shahid Afridi | 4 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | |
| Sarfraz Ahmed† | lbw b Devcich | 1 | 2 | |
| Ahmed Shehzad | b Vettori | 33 | 55 | |
| Mohammad Hafeez | c & b Devcich | 9 | 10 | |
| Haris Sohail | c Latham b Henry | 3 | 9 | |
| Saad Nasim | c Brownlie b Neesham | 19 | 25 | |
| Umar Akmal | b Neesham | 10 | 17 | |
| Shahid Afridi* | c †Ronchi b Neesham | 28 | 23 | |
| Anwar Ali | c Williamson b Mills | 2 | 7 | |
| Sohail Tanvir | c Devcich b Mills | 11 | 15 | |
| Umar Gul | c Taylor b Mills | 0 | 4 | |
| Raza Hasan | not out | 0 | 3 | |
| Extras | (lb 7, w 3, nb 1) | 11 | ||
| Total | 127 | |||
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| AP Devcich | 4 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| MJ Henry | 2 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| KD Mills | 3.5 | 0 | 26 | 3 |
| NL McCullum | 3 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| DL Vettori | 3 | 0 | 28 | 1 |
| JDS Neesham | 3 | 0 | 25 | 3 |
The first match of the series was decided in part because of a fine knock from stand-in opener Sarfraz Ahmed, who smashed unbeaten 76 to down the tourists. And ahead of the second T20 clash between these two sides, Pakistan cricket legend Waqar Younis had some kind words for the the 27-year-old, per ESPNcricinfo:
"I think it's been a good seven-eight months that he has started coming out of the shell and is trying to play his own game.
He's a stroke-maker and he likes to play his shots and when he's free, when he's got less pressure on him, I feel that he plays a lot better than anybody else.
"
Indeed, after being smashed to all parts by Ahmed in the last match, New Zealand would have been desperate to make a much more purposeful start in this one. And they did as openers Devcich and Williamson looked comfortable against the new ball after being put in to bat. But sadly for the tourists, that was all about to change pretty quickly.
New Zealand lost three wickets for nine runs in the space of three overs, and what looked like a decent start at 49-0 suddenly became a poor one at 58-3. And when Ross Taylor—typically a specialist in this kind of format—came and went for just seven, the Black Caps had a tough task on their hands.
That mid-session blitz from Ronchi helped haul the run rate up past a run-a-ball, but wickets continued to tumble around him. Ultimately, a total of 144-8 looked a little short and one that after their dominant display in the first match, Pakistan should have been confident of chasing down.
After a poor showing with the bat, it was up to the New Zealand bowlers to salvage something from this two-match series. And luckily for them, Devcich was on it from the off with his variable spin bowling. The bearded all-rounder snaffled the dangerous Ahmed in the first over and Mohammed Hafeez in the second, leaving Pakistan toiling on 18-2.
From that point on, the Black Caps had the advantage, with the Pakistani batsmen unable to put any kind of sustained pressure on the New Zealand bowlers. When Shahid Afridi strode to the crease there were a few worries for the tourists, though, as we can see here courtesy of their official Twitter account:
But “Boom Boom” Afridi came and went for a quick-fire 28 from just 11 balls, and once he was back in the hutch, Pakistan’s hopes were gone too. Frustrated and chasing the game, they lost wickets freely towards the end of their innings, eventually being bowled out for 127 after 18.5 overs.
The second game in the series was a much fairer reflection of the gap between these sides, which have been a prelude for an upcoming one day international series. Hopefully we’ll be witness to some tight clashes and dramatic finishes when these two lock horns in the longer format in what should be an engrossing five matches/
All statistics courtesy of ESPNcricinfo.
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