AUCKLAND // Pakistan have won their first one-day series since beating the West Indies in Abu Dhabi in November 2008 when they beat New Zealand by 41 runs in the fifth game of their six-match series at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
The victory, courtesy of Ahmed Shehzad's maiden century and a polished bowling performance gave Pakistan an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, with only the final match to be played at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday. It puts Pakistan in good stead ahead of this month's Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan made a below-par 268 for nine with Shehzad scoring 115, but New Zealand wasted a golden opportunity to level the series with only Martin Guptill (65) and stand-in captain Ross Taylor (69) posting any scores of substance in their 227 all out in 46.5 overs.
The hosts had looked well set to push for victory when Taylor was batting with James Franklin in the 42nd over, but when Taylor, who had survived a confident leg before appeal by Shahid Afridi, was given out in the same over their run chase disappeared.
"We didn't want to chase more than 85 or 90 in the last 10 overs but just lost too many wickets and put too much pressure on the last few batsmen," Taylor said.
New Zealand have now lost 14 of their last 15 completed one-day internationals (ODI).
Pakistan's innings had been anchored by Shehzad's first ODI century, which he brought up with a push to square-leg after he wandered across his stumps to well outside off to give himself some room.
His century came off 101 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes, and the 19-year-old looked to increase the scoring rate even further once he reached the milestone but was caught in the deep by Franklin off Scott Styris in the 38th over.
The tourists had looked well set to push on to 300-plus on a good pitch with short boundaries and while several batsmen got starts, New Zealand's bowlers varied their pace and length to restrict the scoring in the final few overs.
"We've had to wait a long time for Pakistan to win a series but it's come at the right time, just before the World Cup," said Afridi.
"I thought we would make 300, but we weren't able to keep up the momentum."
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan:
M Hafeez c N McCullum b Mills 14
A Shehzad c Franklin b Styris 115
K Akmal run out 17
Y Khan c Styris b N McCullum 21
Misbah-ul-haq c Oram b Styris 25
U Akmal run out 32
S Afridi c Guptill b Oram 24
A Razzaq c How b Mills 3
W Riaz not out 2
U Gul c Ryder b Oram 1
Extras: (b-7, w-4, nb-1, lb-2) 14
Total: (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 268
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-73, 3-120, 4-197, 5-205, 6-248, 7-252, 8-265, 9-268
Bowling: Mills 10-2-42-2, Bennett 8-0-56-0, Oram 10-0-49-2 (1w), N McCullum 10-0-40-1, Styris 9-0-51-2 (2w), Franklin 3-0-21-0 (1w,1nb)
New Zealand:
M Guptill c Umar Akmal b Shoaib 65
J Ryder run out (Misbah-ul-haq) 0
J How c Hafeez b Wahab Riaz 12
R Taylor lbw b Shahid Afridi 69
B McCullum c sub b Shahid Afridi 9
S Styris run out (Younis Khan) 9
J Franklin b Wahab Riaz 16
N McCullum b Umar Gul 14
J Oram c Umar Akmal b Umar Gul 10
K Mills not out 4
H Bennett b Wahab Riaz 3
Extras (lb-8, w-7, nb-1) 16
Total: (all out, 46.5 overs) 227
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-53, 3-112, 4-131, 5-150, 6-192, 7-194, 8-207, 9-222, 10-227
Bowling: Abdul Razzaq 4-1-19-0, Shoaib Akhtar 8-0-32-1 (1w), Wahab Riaz 8.5-0-51-3 (1nb, 5w), Umar Gul 7-0-28-2, Shahid Afridi 10-0-55-2, Mohammad Hafeez 9-0-34-0 (1w)
Pakistan won by 41 runs to lead the six match series 3-1
