Pakistan dismantle poor Kiwis

They may be suffering from strife and politics, but Pakistan put in a convincing performance to wipe out New Zealand at Abu Dhabi, underlining their strength as a Twenty20 side. The 49-run win, built on a powerful half-century from Imran Nazir and a clinical bowling performance, saw them take a 1-nil lead in the 2-match series.

New Zealand, mind, were literally crippled before the match started. A number of influential players, including captain Daniel Vettori, had pulled out before the match started for varying reasons. Aaron Redmond was injured in the field and it was telling that his fielding replacement was the injured James Franklin.

Stand-in captain Brendon McCullum got the chase of a challenging 162 to a flyer, as a combination of sloppy fielding and streaky strokeplay saw 33 taken off the first three overs, including 17 off the first. But McCullum cut Mohammad Aamer straight to point, while his partner Martin Guptill wafted an edge off returning pacer Sohail Tanvir to Kamran Akmal, who took an excellent catch behind the stumps to stem the flow of the run-chase. Ross Taylor and Scott Styris departed cheaply (41 for 4), and by the time the terminally underperforming Neil Broom holed out off the miserly Abdul Razzaq, the match was all but over. Debuting wicketkeeper Bryan Watling laboured, and Nathan McCullum cheekily chipped, to a pair of useful 22s, but the result was never in doubt as both fell to Saeed Ajmal, and Pakistan's captain Shahid Afridi took the final wicket, New Zealand crumbling to 112 in 18.3 overs.

The positive that the Kiwis can take from the match was their showing with the new ball, Shane Bond (2 for 17) and Tim Southee bowled excellently in the early overs, beating the bat with considerable pace and movement. It was the change bowler, Ian Butler, whom Nazir targeted, greeting him with two massive straight sixes and larruping 18 off his next over. The two Akmals fell cheaply, but by that time Nazir's thunderous hitting had undone the fast bowlers' good work.

Afridi kept the momentum flowing, cuffing 24 off 16, while Nazir thumped his fourth six to reach his fifty off just 34 balls. And although he preceded his skipper to the hut for 58 off 38 balls, and the wildcard leg-spinner Aaron Redmond seized two wickets to hint at a middle-order collapse, Pakistan were never in any real danger of yielding a sub-par total. Abdul Razzaq's neat late blitz of 26 off just 15 balls, including a straight-launched six to complete Butler's misery, helped Pakistan race to 161. Tim Southee finished with 3 for 28 to emerge as the most successful bowler of the match, but it was not to be his team's night.