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DAMBULLA (Sri Lanka), May 11: Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey exposed Pakistani batting limitations against pace to set up New Zealand’s seven-wicket victory in the triangular one-day series match here on Sunday.
Bond (2-7) and Tuffey (2-28) shared four early wickets in their sharp opening spells to send Pakistan crashing to 116 after New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming had put the opposition in after winning the toss.
The total was too small to put pressure on New Zealand, who romped home with more than 22 overs to spare.
New Zealand were never tested as openers Chris Nevin hit a 29-ball 28 and Fleming 21, including a pulled six off paceman Mohammad Sami.
Lou Vincent (25 not out) and Chris Cairns (18 not out) then completed the job.
A minor consolation for Pakistan was Shoaib Akhtar’s excellent performance with bat and ball.
Shoaib Akhtar top-scored with an entertaining 27 with two sixes and bowled 10 testing overs, but without luck. He had a catch dropped off his bowling in the second over as Younis Khan reacted late to a Nevin edge at second slip.
Pakistan, who beat Sri Lanka by 79 runs in the opening game on Saturday, were let down by their batsmen as they crashed to their lowest total against New Zealand in 65 one-dayers. Their previous lowest was 135 at Napier in 2001.
“It was not an easy pitch to bat on initially as it had moisture, but their fast bowlers did really well. We hope to put up a better batting performance in the next match,” said Pakistani vice-captain Yousuf Youhana.
Fleming too was not impressed with the pitch, saying his team had the advantage of bowling first on a damp surface.
“We have played on such pitches at home but still it was not an ideal batting track, especially in the beginning,” Fleming said.
The New Zealand win was shaped by the deadly duo of Bond and Tuffey, who grabbed four of the first five wickets to reduce Pakistan to 17-5 and the match to a no-contest.
Bowling at a lively pace on a bouncy pitch, Bond and Tuffey reminded Pakistan that their new-look team was not equipped to deal with quality fast bowling.
Seamers Jacob Oram (2-16) and Scott Styris (2-32), and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori also joined the party after Bond and Tuffey had wrecked the top order.
New Zealand hope Bond will be fit for the next game against Sri Lanka on Tuesday after suffering a back injury.
Fleming said: “We are pretty concerned but we will have to wait 24 hours before seeing how much mobility he gets back.”
PAKISTAN:
Mohammad Hafeez c Styris b Tuffey 0
Taufiq Umar c Nevin b Styris 21
Faisal Iqbal b Bond 0
Yousuf Youhana b Bond 0
Younis Khan lbw b Tuffey 3
Abdul Razzaq c Styris b Oram 0
Shoaib Malik b Styris 9
Rashid Latif c Styris b Vettori 26
Shoaib Akhtar b Vettori 27
Mohammad Sami not out 11
Umar Gul c Vettori b Oram 2
EXTRAS (LB-6, W-8, NB-3) 17
TOTAL (all out, 43.1 overs) 116
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-2, 3-5, 4-12, 5-17, 6-42, 7-51, 8-96, 9-103.
BOWLING: Tuffey 10-2-28-2, Bond 5-2-7-2, Oram 9.1-2-16-2, Styris 6-0-32-2, Vettori 9-3-18-2, Harris 4-0-9-0
NEW ZEALAND:
C.J. Nevin c Taufiq b Umar Gul 28
S.P. Fleming c Hafeez b Razzaq 21
L. Vincent not out 25
S.B. Styris c S. Malik b Razzaq 6
C.L. Cairns not out 18
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-11, NB-3) 19
TOTAL (for three wkts, 27.3 overs) 117
FALL OF WKTS: 1-42, 2-65, 3-82.
DID NOT BAT: C.Z. Harris, J.D.P. Oram, B.B. McCullum, D.L. Vettori, D.R. Tuffey, S.E. Bond.
BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-41-0, Mohammad Sami 7-1-23-0, Umar Gul 4.3-0-29-1, Abdul Razzaq 6-0-19-2
RESULT: New Zealand won by seven wickets
UMPIRES: E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka) and D.J. Harper (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: T.H. Wijewardena (Sri Lanka).
MATCH REFEREE: G.R. Viswanath (India).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Daryl Tuffey.
NEXT MATCH: Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Dambulla on Tuesday.
(Tabulated under — played, won, lost, no result, tied, bonus points, total points, run rate):
New Zealand 1 1 0 0 0 1 6 +1.935
Pakistan 2 1 1 0 0 1 6 +0.092
Sri Lanka 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 -1.580
—AFP/Reuters
