AUCKLAND: Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson hit brisk fifties and combined in a record stand of 159 to power New Zealand to a thrilling series-clinching three-wicket win against Pakistan in the third and final One-day International in Auckland on Sunday.

Babar Azam (83) and Mohammad Hafeez (76) laid the platform for a big total with a stand of 134 for the third wicket after Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat.

But the touring side, needing to win the match to tie the series at 1-1, suffered a mid-innings collapse to be shot out for 290 in the 48th over.

Skipper Brendon McCullum, returning from a back injury to lead the side, fell on the first delivery he faced from Mohammad Amir but Guptill (82) and Williamson (84) steadied the chase with their stand, the highest for the second wicket for the hosts.

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali dismissed both batsmen in quick succession with his part-time leg spin to bring his side back into the match and New Zealand were quickly reduced to 210-5.

The stand bettered the previous best 157 which Guptill had set with McCullum four years ago against Zimbabwe.

McCullum’s comeback was very brief after being sidelined for five weeks by a back complaint.

The first ball he faced from Amir was hooked to long leg where Mohammad Irfan took a smart catch on the run.

But a rain interruption disrupted play and when New Zealand returned their target had been revised to 263 off 43 overs by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Henry Nicholls, who set up the first ODI win, and Grant Elliott both fell cheaply as New Zealand slipped from 165-1 to 210-5.

All-rounder Corey Anderson (35) was given not out by umpire Billy Bowden off Rahat Ali after a confident appeal for caught behind and the powerful left-hander, who was then on 17, made most of his fortune by smashing the paceman for two sixes on the next two balls.

Had Bowden raised his finger, New Zealand would have still needed 38 from 26 balls but Pakistan had already used up its one appeal under the Decision Review System.

New Zealand, needing six to win off the last over, got over the mark with two balls to spare with Mitchell Santner hitting Wahab Riaz for two boundaries.

Earlier, Pakistan were comfortably placed on 215-3 in the 31st over, riding on half-centuries from Hafeez and Azam but lost their remaining seven wickets for just 75 runs to fall short of the target they would have liked to set New Zealand.

They would have folded for even less had wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed not scored a fighting 41.

Adam Milne accounted for Pakistan’s tail, picking up 3-49 while Trent Boult and Matt Henry picked up two wickets each.

The ODI series win added to New Zealand’s golden summer after they also beat Pakistan 2-1 in the Twenty20s and beat Sri Lanka in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s.

“It was a really good game of cricket,” said McCullum, who returned to the New Zealand side after a month-long layoff. “We were under a lot of pressure when we had the ball in hand and at one stage the Pakistan boys were looking at scoring about 340 or 350. The way we closed off our bowling display let us take some momentum into our batting.

“Then another wonderful partnership from Kane and Martin and after that it came down to a couple of moments and we got a little bit of luck in one of those moments.”

Azhar said Pakistan fell well short of the total that seemed likely when Babar and Hafeez were together.

“We played very good cricket,” he remarked. “But we didn’t finish off the way we wanted but we had enough runs on the board to win.

“In the second half we kept coming hard as well but in the end it wasn’t good enough to get over the line.

New Zealand next play Australia in the first of three One-day Internationals in Auckland on Wednesday.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Azhar Ali c Guptill b Henry 3

Ahmed Shehzad c Guptill b Boult 12

Mohammad Hafeez c Milne b Santner 76

Babar Azam c Guptill b Henry 83

Shoaib Malik c Ronchi b Boult 32

Sarfraz Ahmed c Ronchi b Milne 41

Mohammad Rizwan run out 16

Wahab Riaz c Guptill b Anderson 11

Mohammad Amir c Ronchi b Milne 1

Rahat Ali c Ronchi b Milne 0

Mohammad Irfan not out 0

EXTRAS (W-14, NB-1) 15

TOTAL (all out, 47.3 overs) 290

FALL OF WKTS: 1-16, 2-20, 3-154, 4-215, 5-227, 6-256, 7-279, 8-284, 9-284.

BOWLING: Boult 9-0-60-2 (1nb, 3w); Henry 10-0-44-2 (3w); Anderson 4-0-26-1 (1w); Santner 5-0-56-1 (1w); Milne 9.3-0-49-3 (2w); Elliott 10-0-55-0.

NEW ZEALAND:

Martin Guptill c Hafeez b Azhar 82

Brendon McCullum c Irfan b Amir 0

Kane Williamson st Sarfraz Ahmed b Azhar84

Henry Nicholls lbw b Amir 5

Grant Elliott c Babar b Malik 10

Corey Anderson c Babar b Irfan 35

Luke Ronchi b Riaz 20

Mitchell Santner not out 10

Adam Milne not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-14) 19

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 42.4 overs) 265

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-165, 3-180, 4-188, 5-210, 6-253, 7-256.

DID NOT BAT: M.J. Henry, T.A. Boult.

BOWLING: Mohammad Irfan 8-0-60-1 (5w); Mohammad Amir 9-0-39-2 (2w); Rahat Ali

7-0-54-0 (2w); Wahab Riaz 8.4-0-51-1 (3w); Shoaib Malik 3-0-19-1; Azhar Ali 7-0-37-2 (2w).

RESULT: New Zealand by three wickets (D/L method) to win series 2-0.

UMPIRES: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand) and N.J. Llong (England).

TV UMPIRE: B.N.J. Oxenford (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: D.C. Boon (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Martin Guptill.

FIRST MATCH: Wellington (Basin Reserve), New Zealand won by 80 runs.

SECOND MATCH: Napier, abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2016