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| May 24, 2003 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1424 |
Rare limited-over overseas cup win for New Zealand
DAMBULLA (Sri Lanka), May 23: Stephen Fleming smashed a robust 65 as New Zealand won a rare overseas one-day tournament with a four-wicket victory over Pakistan in the triangular series final here on Friday.
The New Zealand captain cracked three sixes and five fours in his 34th half-century to help his team surpass a modest Pakistani total of 198 with 4.4 overs to spare.
This was New Zealand’s only second success away from home in a one-day tournament involving more than two teams, the previous being the ICC Trophy at Nairobi in Kenya three years ago.
New Zealand found more than one hero in their emphatic win over a new-look Pakistani side on a slow track where stroke-making was never easy.
No team had successfully chased 199 in the low-scoring tournament, also featuring Sri Lanka, but Fleming had the last laugh with an entertaining 111-ball knock.
Fleming also saw to it that his team ended the Sri Lankan tour on an impressive note after having drawn a two-Test series.
“We are very excited about winning the away tournament,” said Fleming, who was named Man- of- The - Match.
“We respect Pakistan as a one-day side, but we have experienced players and experience counts a lot in pressure game. I wanted to be the one to score most of the runs. I had to stand up.”
“A final against any sub-continental side in these conditions is a major challenge and we are going to take a lot of confidence from this,” said Fleming afterwards.
“As a young group we have developed in the way we play spin and have stored some knowledge for our tour of India,” he added.
Fleming led New Zealand to 200-6 with an authoritative 65 as they chased 199 for victory.
“I had worked hard on my game between the round robin games and this final, and I knew I had to contribute for us to win.
Fleming drove home the advantage given by tall fast bowlers Jacob Oram (3-38) and Daryl Tuffey (3-32), who restricted Pakistan despite an impressive unbeaten 70 by middle-order batsman Younis Khan.
Pakistan missed the services of key fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, serving a two-match ban for tampering with the ball during the last league game against New Zealand here on Tuesday.
They needed early successes to put pressure on New Zealand but failed to find wicket-takers in absence of Akhtar, who had bowled with fire in his four games before being suspended.
The inexperience was reflected in bowling as Pakistan conceded 44 extras, including 25 wides.
“I think the total was defendable, but we conceded too many extras. We bowled too many wides,” said Pakistani captain Rashid Latif.
“New Zealand played better cricket than us and they deserved to win.”
Pakistan coach Javed Miandad said he was pleased with his side’s overall effort but staggered by the 44 extras his bowlers conceded.
“We gave too many extras but everyone was trying too hard,” said Miandad. “I am very satisfied with the way they performed in general though.
“They are inexperienced and this is the only way that they will learn.”
When talented seamer Mohammad Sami had Chris Nevin caught cutting by Shoaib Malik at backward point for Pakistan’s first wicket, Fleming had already laid a solid foundation with a 54-run stand.
He then consolidated his team’s position with a 59-run stand for the second wicket with Lou Vincent, which eventually helped his team absorb a three-wicket effort from Sami.
Sami removed Fleming and Scott Styris (22) off successive deliveries to reduce New Zealand from 151-2 to 170-5, but his effort came too late.
In contrast, Pakistan were under pressure from the first over itself. Their woes began soon after Latif became the tournament’s first captain to elect to bat after winning the toss.
Pakistan were struggling at 56-4 against the disciplined duo of Tuffey and Oram before Younis propped up the innings with his 17th half-century.
He put on 57 for the fifth wicket with Malik (34) and 43 for the seventh with Latif (20) to help his team recover from a poor start.
Misfortune also struck Pakistan when well-set Yousuf Youhana was run out backing up.
Bowler Styris tried to stop a Younis straight-drive on his follow-through and the deflection hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end, with Youhana out of the crease.
Younis continued to defy New Zealand, but received little support from the other end as Oram and Tuffey never allowed Pakistan to build a sizeable partnership.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Mohammad Haffeez c McCullum b Tuffy 0
Faisal Athar c McCullum b Oram 9
Yasir Hameed lbw Mills 6
Yousuf Youhana run out 25
Younis Khan not out 70
Shoaib Malik b Vettori 34
Abdul Razzaq run out 10
Rashid Latif c Tuffey b Oram 20
Mohammad Sami c Harris b Oram 7
Danish Kaneria c McCullum b Tuffey 0
Shabbir Ahmed c McCullum b Tuffey 2
Extras (lb-6 w-3 nb-6) 15
Total (all out, 50 overs) 198
Fall of wkts: 1-0 2-11 3-39 4-56 5-113 6-136 7-179 8-194 9-198
Bowling: Tuffey 9-2-32-3, Mills 8-0-36-1, Styris 10-2-34-0, Oram 10-1-38-3, Vettori 10-1-32-1, Harris 3-0-20-0
NEW ZEALAND:
C.Nevin c Shoaib Malik b M. Sami 17
S.Fleming c Younis Khan b M. Sami 65
L.Vincent run out 13
S.Styris b Mohammad Sami 22
C.Cairns c Abdul Razzaq b Shabbir 18
J.Oram c Younis Khan b Razzaq 12
C.Harris not out 5
B.McCullum not out 4
Extras (lb-13 w-25 nb-6) 44
Total (for six wickets, 45.2 overs) 200
Fall of wickets: 1-54 2-113 3-151 4-152 5-170 6-194
Did not bat: D.Vettori, D.Tuffey, K.Mills
Bowling: Mohammad Sami 10-0-42-3, Shabbir Ahmed 8.2-0-36-1, Abdul Razzaq 3-0-20-1, Mohammad Hafeez 7-1-24-0, Danish Kaneria 10-2-35-0, Shoaib Malik 7-0-30-0
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Stephen Fleming (NZ)
MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Shoaib Malik (Pak)
Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS) and Asoka de Silva (SRI)
TV umpire: Gamini Silva (SRI)
Match-referee: Gundappa Viswanath (IND)—Reuters
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