Pakistan in final with 6 wicket win
Chris Dhambarage reporting from South Africa
CRICKET: Pakistan edged out New Zealand by six wickets to book
a place in the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup tournament final at the
Newlands Stadium in Cape Town yesterday.
After restricting New Zealand to 143 for 8 Pakistan reached their
target with one over to spare after going through some anxious moments.
Pakistan of course got off to a flying start with the openers
Mohammed Hafeez and Imran Nazir putting on 60 runs from seven overs.
Nazir went on to hit a top score of 59 off 41 deliveries with the help
of five sixes and three fours. Hafeez contributed 32 runs from 21 balls
with two sixes and three fours.
New Zealand came back into the game by capturing the important
wickets of Younis Khan, and the aggressive Shahid Afridi quite cheaply
within the space of seven runs. But skipper Shoaib Malik led the way
with an unbeaten 26 from 14 balls with one six and one boundary.
Earlier New Zealand who decided to take first strike on a day marred
by some rain managed to score 143 for 8 from their 20 overs. In fact the
proceedings were halted for 33 minutes due to rain after New Zealand had
faced just six overs.
The openers Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum put on 5 runs for the
first wicket before left arm spinner Fawad Alam took a brilliant catch
off his bowling to break the partnership. Vincent fell for 28 runs off
the equal number of balls.
Shahid Afridi struck next with his quick leg spinners dismissing
McCullum for 26 made off 27 balls but it was Umar Gul who at that stage
put Pakistan in the driver?s seat. In his second over Gul dismissed
Scott Styris and Peter Fulton to skid the New Zealand innings somewhat.
The hard hitting Styris fell for 11 after stroking a four and a six
and Fulton hit a full toss to skipper Shoaib Malik after making ten.
Umar Gul captured three wickets for 15 runs in his four overs while
Shahid Afridi was steady as well claiming one wicket for 24 from his
four overs.
The real danger for Pakistan came in the form of Craig McMillan who
has been in tremendous form throughout the tournament. In fact he
immediately caused some concerns to the Pakistanis when he smashed Alam
for a huge straight six.
However the fears were short lived as McMillan was caught on the long
off fence by Younis Khan off Alam. He scored 12 from six balls. Alam
playing his first match of the tournament was really impressive
returning figures of two wickets for 29 from three overs.
However for the Kiwis Ross Taylor held the innings somewhat with an
unbeaten 37 with 17 runs coming from the last over.
NEW ZEALAND
L Vincent c and b Fawad Alam 28
B McCullum lbw b Shahid Afridi 26
S Styris c Sohail Tanvir b Umar Gul 18
P Fulton c Shoaib Malik b Umar Gul 10
R Taylor not out 37
C McMillan c Younis Khan b Fawad Alam 12
J Oram c Kamran Akmal b Umar Gul 1
D Vettori run out (Shahid Afridi) 0
S Bond run out 5
J Patel not out 0
EXTRAS (lb1, nb2, w3) 6
TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs) 143
FALLS: 1-50 (Vincent), 2-74 (McCullum), 3-85 (Styris), 4-87 (Fulton),
5-104 (McMillan), 6-106 (Oram), 7-107 (Vettori), 8-126 (Bond)
BOWBLING: Mohammad Asif 4-0-34-0, Sohail Tanvir 4-0-30-0 (2nb, 1w),
Shahid Afridi 4-0-24-1 (2w), Fawad Alam 3-0-29-2,
Umar Gul 4-0-15-3, Mohammad Hafeez 1-0-10-0.
PAKISTAN
Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Styris 32
Imran Nazir lbw b Patel 59
Younis Khan c McCullum b Vettori 4
Shoaib Malik not out 26
Shahid Afridi c Fulton b Bond 6
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 16
EXTRAS (lb2, w2) 4
TOTAL (4 wkts, 18.5 overs) 147
FALLS: 1-60 (Mohammad Hafeez), 2-96 (Imran Nazir),
3-104 (Younis Khan), 4-111 (Shahid Afridi).
BOWLING: Bond 4-0-33-1 (1w), Gillespie 3-0-30-0 (1w),
Vettori 4-0-22-1, Styris 3-0-14-1, Patel 3.5-0-31-1, Oram 1-0-15-0 |
