William O’Rourke led the seam attack admirably while their finger-spinners kept Pakistan in check on a two-paced Karachi surface. The pacer William O’Rourke finished with 4/43 from 9.3 overs. Besides him, Mitchell Santner took 2/20 from 10 overs. New Zealand’s cricket team put on a stellar show in the tri-series final against Pakistan. The Kiwis bowled the hosts out for 242 in 49.3 overs.
William O’Rourke stunned Pakistan’s lower order with his slower variations, after initially hitting hard lengths and the splice of batters with high pace and bounce. His dismissal of Naseem Shah for 19 saw Pakistan bowled out for 242, with three balls to spare in their innings. Before that, he got the likes of opener Fakhar Zaman, middle-order batter Mohammad Rizwan and lower all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.
In nine matches, the bowler William O’Rourke has raced to 14 scalps at 29.57. This was his maiden four-fer. 8 of his 14 ODI scalps have come at home. Meanwhile, as per ESPNCricinfo, he has now surpassed 50 wickets in List A cricket (51). This was his 2nd four-fer.
An all-round performance from New Zealand took them to a comfortable five-wicket win over Pakistan in the tri-series final in Karachi. Mohammad Rizwan’s decision to bat at the toss was surprising, given the chasing bias at the venue but it was also Pakistan’s attempt to try something new before the Champions Trophy.
However, New Zealand’s bowlers led by William O’Rourke (4-43, Mitchell Santner (2-20) and Michael Bracewell (2-38) put on a disciplined show to restrict Pakistan to a modest total of 242. The Black Caps then chased it down with a collective effort, spearheaded by fifties from Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham to get the job done with 28 balls to spare.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : It was brilliant chasing the other night, but looks slightly different today. There are a couple of dry spots, might be two paced and scoring might be lower. I do feel it’ll be better at night with dew. Don’t think the surface will slow up that much in the evening reckons Bazid Khan and Vernon Philander.
Toss : Pakistan skipper Mohammed Rizwan won the toss and chose to bat with one change in the playing XI bringing in Faheem Ashraf for Mohammed Hasnain. New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner bowling first made two changes bringing in Jacob Duffy and Nathan Smith for Matt Henry and Ben Sears.
William O’Rourke’s 4-fer restricts Pakistan to 242 all out
Earlier in the afternoon, Pakistan struggled for momentum on a Karachi surface that was quite distinct from the one that saw the hosts chasing down a 350-plus score against South Africa two nights ago. The track was drier and two-paced, allowing the spinners and bowlers who take pace-off cleverly to be effective. William O’Rourke set the tone early with a fiery new-ball spell that included the big scalp of Fakhar Zaman. The left-hander fell to a soft dismissal, chipping one to mid-wicket.
The first powerplay was a portent for Pakistan’s go-slow. The hosts played out 48 dots in the powerplay, in which they managed 48 for 2, and failed to hit a high tempo through the innings. After taking a sequence of short balls away from Fakhar Zaman with his sharp angle from over the wicket, including two off-side wides, William O’Rourke brought a fuller one back into the opener and had him chipping a catch to square leg for 10 off 15 balls.
Babar Azam started off on a positive note and seemed to be timing them well, also getting to 6000 ODI runs in the process – the joint-fastest to do so along with Hashim Amla. However, Babar once again failed to convert the start and departed to a tame return catch by Nathan Smith. In between these two dismissals was Saud Shakeel whose promotion to no.3 failed once more as he got castled by Bracewell’s arm-ball. It was down to Rizwan and Salman Agha once again, and the pair tried to steady the ship with a dogged partnership.
Babar Azam then brought the Karachi crowd alive when he laced Jacob Duffy through the covers for four, and became the joint fastest to 6000 ODI runs in his 123rd innings, alongside Hashim Amla. Nathan Smith, the seam-bowling allrounder, though spoiled the party when he had Babar spooning a return catch for 29 off 34 balls in his first over.
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan needed 13 balls to get off the mark, and then four more balls to find the boundary. Salman Agha was more fluent at the other end, wedging the ball into the gaps as the pair forged an 88-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
However, unlike the game against South Africa, the duo couldn’t get a solid tempo to their innings on a sluggish pitch. Boundaries were hard to come by and just when both were set, they perished in search of big shots. Rizwan in particular endured a torrid time in the middle as he failed to get going fluently.
Just after launching William O’Rourke for a six, he played one on to the stumps to give New Zealand a big breakthrough. Bracewell then accounted for Salman as the latter tried to take the matchup on. The off-spinner along with his skipper were exceptional in the middle overs with their accuracy.
The stand, however, ended when William O’Rourke returned to the attack and had Rizwan chopping on with a cross-seamer, which stopped on him, for 46 off 76 balls. After hitting hard lengths and the splice of batters with high pace and bounce in the early exchanges, William O’Rourke proved that he could be just as effective with the older ball. Almost five overs later, Bracewell had Agha miscuing a reverse sweep to short third to leave Pakistan at 161 for 5 in the 37th over.
The Pakistan innings fell apart towards the end and if not for some cameos from the likes of Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf and Naseem Shah, the score would have been much lower. New Zealand were a tad sloppy in the field in the last three to four overs but otherwise, they put on a great show.
Tayyab Tahir then gave the innings a leg-up with his 38 off 33 balls, but his innings was cut short by Duffy in the 42nd over. Tahir was the only batter in Pakistan’s top seven to strike at over 100. In the last eight overs, New Zealand conceded just four boundaries, keeping Pakistan to 242.
Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell fifties take NZ to tri-series title vs Pakistan
With dew not really coming in, the chase was bound to be tricky and Pakistan’s new-ball duo found sharp movement early on. Naseem got Will Young with one that darted back off the seam to trap him LBW. Williamson (34) and Devon Conway (48) then put on a 71-run stand for the second wicket to stabilize things for a while.
The new ball did a lot more under lights, with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi using the swing and seam movement on offer to apply pressure on Conway and Williamson. In the first powerplay during the chase, the broadcaster put up a graphic showing the average swing achieved during the two innings. New Zealand’s seamers had generated 1.5 degrees of swing, and Pakistan’s 2.4 degrees.
Conway, though, looked scratchy throughout and it was Williamson who did the bulk of the scoring initially in the partnership. It seemed like the pair would do a repeat of their partnership against South Africa but Salman cleaned up Williamson to break the stand. Conway continued to struggle but dug in for a bit more before a sharp Naseem bumper found the top-edge to end his stay. At 108/3, the game was in the balance although the Black Caps didn’t really have the scoreboard pressure to contend with.
The experienced pair of Conway and Williamson absorbed all of that pressure, and once the ball became older and softer, they picked away Pakistan’s spinners. Williamson carted Agha’s offspin over mid-off while Conway flayed Abrar and Khushdil Shah through the covers. When Williamson tried to pop Agha over the infield once again, he caused the ball to dip and turn to castle him for 34 off 49 balls. Conway then departed two short of his half-century, but the depth in skill in New Zealand’s middle order was too much to overcome for Pakistan.
Latham had benefitted from multiple reprieves – he was dropped by Shaheen Shah Afridi off his own bowling on 15, and then by Saud Shakeel at square leg on 29. Earlier, when he was on 13, leg spinner Abrar Ahmed pinged him on his pad and wasn’t given out lbw. Pakistan missed a trick by not going for a review, with ball-tracking indicating that it had pitched in line and would have crashed into the stumps.
Abrar, Pakistan’s specialist spinner, lacked penetration, and was taken for 67 in his ten overs. In stark contrast, New Zealand’s premier spinner Santner was unhittable, coming away with his most economical ten-over spell in ODI cricket. Forty of his 60 balls were dots as Santner varied his pace from the mid-70s kph range to mid-90s kph with remarkable control. Bracewell also kept things tight, finishing with 2 for 38 in his ten overs.
Mitchell and Latham combined for a match-defining partnership of 87 that all but sealed the game. The left-hander, though, was extremely lucky to survive a few dropped catches and a run out as well. Pakistan were made to regret those blips as Latham and Mitchell went about their job with ease. Neither of them were able to bat till the very end but that didn’t matter as Bracewell along with Glenn Phillips got the job done with aplomb.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Mitchell Santner the winning NZ skipper said : Yeah I think so. Nice to win tonight. Different guys stepping up at different times is good. Was a bit two-paced. Was about trying to put it in a good spot for a long time and build pressure. When you swing the ball like that, it’s a problem for batters (talking about O’Rourke).
Duff bowled in good areas as well in partnership with O’Rourke. He’s pretty relieved as well (Latham). We know how good he is, was just a matter of time. Nice to have different guys firing.
Mohammed Rizwan the losing PAK skipper said : We batted first because we thought the pitch would be difficult. And it was. Credit to their bowlers. Salman and I had to build the partnership after losing 3 wickets. We were looking at 260. I got out at the wrong time. Need to improve in the field. It’s one department where we have to improve. Abrar is brilliant in the field, the others also have to catch up. Wanted to take the pressure of batting first as well.
William O’Rourke Player of the Match for his four wickets said : There was a nice breeze across the ground, helped me push the ball across the left-hander. We thought it was two-paced. Plan was heavy length and for it to hold up hopefully. The boys have been playing nicely. Going into the tournament with momentum is obviously good for us. Not too sure about that, I’ll try my best (can he bowl faster)
Salman Ali Agha Player of the Series for his 219 runs 1 wicket and few catches in the series said : I’m batting well and I’m happy. But at the end of the day we didn’t win. We’ll focus on CT now. This is something you can expect in Karachi. One wicket is going to be a belter and next one is going to be slower, and the ball was gripping in this pitch.
I love batting so I’ll go with batting (what he loves doing most?). It was a challenging pitch to bat on. Was a 280-290 kind of wicket. My wicket and Rizwan’s wicket made it 240, otherwise it could’ve been different story.
Despite injuries to Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand clinched the tri-series title in Karachi and sounded out a warning to the hosts, five days before they meet again in the Champions Trophy opener at the same venue. In the absence of the senior quicks, William O’Rourke stepped up admirably with a four-wicket haul, while the spinners, led by Mitchell Santner, straightjacketed Pakistan in the middle overs, limiting them to 242.
The batters then completed the demolition job on a two-paced surface, chasing the target with 28 balls and five wickets to spare. After Devon Conway and Kane Williamson set the platform with a 71-run partnership for the second wicket, Daryl Mitchell launched from there in the middle overs, befuddling Pakistan’s spinners with his variety of sweeps, including the reverse. He struck up an 87-run stand with Tom Latham, which highlighted New Zealand’s dominance in the middle overs, before Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips sealed the deal.
It was Phillips who had kicked off the tri-series with an unbeaten 106 off 74 balls, his maiden ODI century, against Pakistan, before Williamson reminded the world of his genius with an unbeaten century of his own in New Zealand’s second game of the tri-series against South Africa. Having bagged ducks in those two games – and also against Sri Lanka in Auckland last month – Latham made a timely return to form, and re-established himself as New Zealand’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter with his 56 off 64 balls.
New Zealand way too good yet again as they cruise to victory in the final. Another box ticked for them ahead of the Champions Trophy with Tom Latham getting among the runs as well. They really look a complete unit going into the tournament in terms of pace, spin and batting – all of which is in good nick.
The pitch today wasn’t a belter as it was in the last game at this venue where Pakistan chased down 350. It was two-paced and the ball was not coming on very well. Still, Pakistan weren’t up to the mark with bat after winning the toss. They lost early wickets and then got tied down by spin in the middle overs as Santner and Bracewell were outstanding. Special mention for William O’Rourke as well who bowled a superb spell with new ball and then used the cutters nicely at the death.
The target of 243 wasn’t huge but Pakistan did fight hard, especially in the first half of the chase. Naseem was charged up and bowled a testing spell early on. Agha and Shaheen applied the pressure as well. But New Zealand kept having partnerships, and things started to slip away for the hosts when they missed a few chances to get rid of Latham. They came at a time where the target was still in triple digits and a wicket could’ve kept them in the game. But it wasn’t to be and Latham and Mitchell took the game away with brisk fifties.
Three matches and three commanding wins for New Zealand as they win the tri-series in style. The players are posing with the trophy. Up next will be the Champions Trophy and it will be these two teams taking on each other in the opener. New Zealand will be strengthened further by the potential return of Ravindra and Ferguson for the Champions Trophy opener on Wednesday.