ABU DHABI: Kane Williamson hit a brilliant 123 as New Zealand staved off Pakistan’s spirited challenge to eke out a series-levelling seven-run victory in the fourth One-day International here on Wednesday.

Williamson’s fourth ODI century helped New Zealand post 299 for five but Younus Khan hit 103 and Shahid Afridi blasted 49 runs off 25 balls as Pakistan looked very much in the hunt before eventually finishing on 292 for eight. Pakistan lost opener Ahmed Shehzad for no score in the first over of the innings and looked in trouble at 82 for four but Younis added 91 runs with Akmal (29) and 66 with Afridi to revive the chase.

Afridi fell in the 44th over, leaving Pakistan needing 62 runs off 41 balls but Daniel Vettori then sent down a tight over in which he also dismissed Younis.

Down the order, Anwar Ali scored 20 not out from 13 balls but Pakistan could not score the 16 runs they needed off the last over to seal the series they led 2-1 going into the contest.

Both teams stay put in Abu Dhabi for the fifth and final match on Friday.

ScoreboardNEW ZEALAND:

M. Guptill c Shehzad b Sohail 58D. Brownlie c Akmal b Afridi 42K. Williamson b Irfan 123R. Taylor c Shehzad b Irfan 26C. Anderson c Akmal b Anwar 23T. 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.

BOWLING: Sohail 10-0-75-1 (3w), Irfan 10-1-53-2 (2w), Anwar 9-0-50-1 (1w), Afridi 10-0-46-1 (1w), Haris 8-0-47-0 (2w), Shehzad 3-0-24-0.

PAKISTAN:

Nasir Jamshed lbw b Anderson 30Ahmed Shehzad b Henry 0Younis Khan b Vettori 103Mohammad Hafeez c Ronchi b Vettori 3Haris Sohail c Latham b Vettori 13Umar Akmal run out 29Shahid Afridi c Ronchi b Milne 49Sarfraz Ahmed c Ronchi b McClenaghan 18Sohail Tanvir not out 11Anwar Ali not out 20

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-6, NB-1, W-5) 16

TOTAL (for eight wkts; 50 overs) 292

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-52, 3-59, 4-82, 5-172, 6-238, 7-254, 8-261.

BOWLING: Henry 10-0-68-1 (1w), Milne 10-2-39-1 (1w), McClenaghan 10-0-69-1 (1nb, 2w), Anderson 8-1-40-1, Vettori 10-0-53-3 (1w), Williamson 2-0-13-0

UMPIRES: Richard Illingworth (ENG) and Shozab Raza (PAK)

TV UMPIRE: Joel Wilson (WIS)

MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014