Karachi, Feb 14 Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham struck half-centuries on top of an all-round bowling performance as New Zealand defeated hosts Pakistan by five wickets in the final to claim the title in the Tri-Nation ODI Series at the National Stadium here on Friday. This is a big boost for New Zealand ahead of the Champions Trophy on a day when they lost pacer Ben Sears to an injury. With this win, New Zealand finished the tri-series unbeaten.
Mitchell struck a 58-ball 57 while Latham finally came good when it mattered to score a 64-ball 56 and with vital contributions from Devon Conway (48) and Kane Williams (34) reached 245/5 in 45.2 overs to win the match with 28 balls to spare.
They were chasing a modest target of 243 after the Black Caps rode on superb bowling by left-arm pacer Will O’Rourke (4-43) and a brace each by spinners Michael Bracewell (2-38) and skipper Mitchell Santner (2-20) to bundle out Pakistan for 242 in the final over of their innings.
Pakistan, who elected to bat first, lost Fakar Zaman (10) early with 16 runs on the board and Babar Azam joined him in the pavilion soon after making 29 during which he became the joint-fastest batter to reach 6,000 runs milestone. Nathan Smith caught him off his bowling and Pakistan slumped to 54/3.
Skipper Mohammad Rizwan (46) and Salman Agha (45) raised 88 runs for the fourth wicket but could not put up a massive partnership like they did against South Africa a few days back. Once both of them were out with the score of 161/5, Pakistan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and ended up with a below-par score.
On taking the field for the second innings, Pakistan struck an early blow, sending back Will Young with just five runs on the board. Conway and Williamson took the score to 76 when the former NZ skipper was castled by Agha Salman for 34.
Conway added 32 more runs to the score with Mitchell, taking the Black Caps past 100 runs. Conway missed his half-century by two runs, but Mitchell went on to reach the milestone off 56 balls. He was out a few balls later, for 57 runs, his knock studded with six boundaries.
Mitchell and Latham added 88 runs for the fourth wicket. Latham reached his half-century off 60 balls. He was eventually out for 56 off 64 balls, hitting five boundaries. He was out with a score of 232/5 and New Zealand were well and truly on course to victory. Glenn Phillips (20 not out) saw them to victory.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 242 all out in 49.3 overs (Mohd Rizwan 46, Salman Agha 45, Tyyab Tahir 38, Will O’Rourke 4-43; Michael Bracewell 2-38, Mitchell Santner 2-20) lost to New Zealand 243/5 in 45.2 overs (Devon Conway 48, Daryl Mitchell 57, Tom Latham 56; Naseem Shah 2-43) by five wickets.
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