ABU DHABI: Skipper Kane Williamson hit a century to help steer New Zealand to 299-5 in the fourth One-day International against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old right-hander scored 123 off 105 balls while opener Martin Guptill made 58 after New Zealand won the toss and batted on an ideal batting pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Williamson, standing in as skipper for the rested Brendon McCullum, became the youngest New Zealand captain to score a one-day century as he added 44 for the second wicket with Guptill and another 63 for the third with Ross Taylor, who made 26 to raise hopes of a series-levelling win.

Pakistan lead the five-match series 2-1 after winning the first and third games.

Williamson, who scored an unbeaten 70 in New Zealand’s four-wicket win in the second match in Sharjah, pulled paceman Mohammad Irfan to deep square-leg for his ninth boundary to complete the three-figure mark off just 92 balls.

He was finally bowled by Irfan off the last delivery of the innings, hitting 12 boundaries and adding another 72 for the fifth wicket with Tom Latham (14 not out).

Williamson’s hundred was built on a fine start to the innings.

Guptill and Dean Brownlie had given a solid 81-run start before leg-spinner Shahid Afridi provided his team the breakthrough in the 17th over.

Guptill hit seven boundaries in his 78-ball knock before he was caught behind off paceman Sohail Tanvir.

Corey Anderson, meanwhile, made 23.

Pakistan went ahead with the match despite calls to postpone it after a terrorist attack in Peshawar on Tuesday which left 148 people killed, 132 of them school students.

Both teams observed a two-minute silence and wore black armbands to mourn the tragedy.

The PCB initially wanted to postpone the match, but as terrorists have forced them to play home games overseas since 2009, they said “if we allow terrorists to disrupt our matches abroad, then all will be lost.”

All proceeds from the match will go to families of the martyred, and toward rebuilding the school.

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said they were playing for the families of the students and teachers killed.

Pakistan brought in Anwar Ali and Nasir Jamshed for Wahab Riaz and Asad Shafiq from the line-up of the third match.

New Zealand made three changes, leaving out James Neesham, Nathan McCullum and Anton Devcich for Daniel Vettori, Brownlie and Adam Milne.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

M.J. Guptill c Sarfraz b Sohail Tanvir 58

D.G. Brownlie c Umar b Afridi 42

K.S. Williamson b Irfan 123

L.R.P.L. Taylor c Sarfraz b Irfan 26

C.J. Anderson c Umar b Anwar 23

T.W.M. Latham not out 14

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-9) 13

TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs) 299

FALL OF WKTS: 1-81, 2-125, 3-188, 4-227, 5-299.

DID NOT BAT: L. Ronchi, D.L. Vettori, A.F. Milne, M.J. Henry, M.J. McClenaghan.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 10-0-75-1 (3w); Mohammad Irfan 10-1-53-2 (2w); Anwar Ali 9-0-50-1 (1w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-46-1 (1w); Haris Sohail 8-0-47-0 (2w); Ahmed Shehzad 3-0-24-0.

PAKISTAN: Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan.

UMPIRES: Shozab Raza (Pakistan) and R.K. Illingworth (England).

TV UMPIRE: J.S. Wilson (West Indies).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn December 18th , 2014