New Zealand win by 110

New Zealand win by 110

New Zealand v Pakistan, Group A, World Cup 2011, Pallekele

Seamers destroy Pakistan top order

Shahid Afridi

Pakistan were still swooning from Ross Taylor's blitz when they came out to bat, and the seamers destroyed the top order, putting New Zealand on the verge of their first victory against a Test nation in this World Cup. Their only worry was the fitness of the captain, Daniel Vettori, who hobbled off the field in considerable discomfort after injuring his knee in the fifth over.

New Zealand were up for it when they took the field and Jamie How's full-length dive at point to save a Ahmed Shehzad cut was indication that the total of 302 would be hard to chase. It got harder when Mohammad Hafeez unsuccessfully reviewed Tim Southee's upheld appeal for lbw and left Pakistan 5 for 1.

Another example of Pakistan's ineptness was when Shehzad flicked through square leg and assumed the ball would reach the boundary, discounting Southee's sprint from fine leg. By the time Southee had saved the boundary, Pakistan's batsmen had ambled only two.

It was Kyle Mills' double-strike, however, that critically damaged Pakistan's chase. He trapped Shehzad lbw as the batsman tried to play across the line and detonated Younis Khan's off stump from the ground. Pakistan were reeling at 23 for 3.

The day's most ironic moment came when Kamran Akmal, who dropped Taylor twice before he reached double digits, nicked Southee to slip. Taylor, now standing-in as captain, did not give Kamran any favours. Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan's rock in recent times, got a leading edge to point as he tried to flick, and hope was all but lost.

Shahid Afridi, bristling at the prospect of a humiliating defeat, swung lustily and found the boundary three times. Eventually he missed one from Oram, and was bowled. At the half-way stage of the chase, Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq were merely delaying the inevitable.

50 overs New Zealand 302 for 7 (Taylor 131, Guptill 57) v Pakistan

The crowds that travelled through the hills to watch the first one-day international in Pallekele were first treated to cricket's adaptation of The Comedy of Errors, with Kamran Akmal playing the lead and Shoaib Akhtar in a strong supporting role, and then to a gory massacre. Pakistan were so comically incompetent that they allowed New Zealand, who had to endure the tragic struggle of Jamie How, to build a satisfactory platform from which Ross Taylor launched an assault so brutal that Pakistan were gutted and unable to defend themselves by the end of the innings.

A stronger opponent would have made Pakistan regret the glut of extras and dropped catches much earlier but New Zealand's batsmen did not dominate the bowling until the end. And then they did so in some style. Martin Guptill was their solitary performer in the first half, and Taylor used massive slices luck to get going. But in the last six overs, Taylor broke free in unprecedented manner, taking 28 off a Shoaib over - the tournament's most expensive - before plundering 30 off one from Razzaq. It began to rain sixes and fours in the outfield as New Zealand ransacked 114 off the last six overs to reach 302.

When Pakistan's spinners dismissed Guptill, shortly after he reached his fifty, and James Franklin to reduce the innings from 112 for 2 to 113 for 4, New Zealand seemed on their way to another slide. When Scott Styris, who was also dropped by Kamran Akmal, was trapped by an Umar Gul yorker in the first batting Powerplay over New Zealand were only 175 for 5, in sight of a middling total. That changed in a blink.

In the 47th over, Shoaib bowled a mix of wide deliveries, length deliveries and full tosses that Taylor savaged through cover point and over the deep midwicket boundary. That exhibition of how not to bowl at the death was outdone by Razzaq, whose medium-pace combined with poor length was meat and drink to a marauding Taylor. Fielders looked on helplessly, Shahid Afridi tore his hair out metaphorically and Taylor was now toying with a shell-shocked Pakistan. He had added 35 in 3.5 overs with Nathan McCullum, who initiated the acceleration, and then 85 in 3.4 overs with Jacon Oram, who muscled 25 off 9 balls.