The final scoreline of the ODI series may be painful reading for Pakistani eyes but represents a fair outcome in that it clearly showed how meager Pakistan's bowling resources were in terms of containment. It obviously showed the weaknesses in the Pakistan batting line up. All of the above are areas of grave concern for the team management as Pakistan head to Australia/New Zealand to participate in the 2015 World Cup. Quite simply put, if Pakistan batsmen are finding it difficult to handle the New Zealand pace attack in favourable conditions in the UAE, then what hope is there of them handling similar or better attacks in abroad? Time is running out and unless a magic solution is found to Pakistan's issues, a swift exit from the World Cup is the likely outcome.

By Azfar Khan (19th December,2014)

The 5th ODI and decider of the series began with New Zealand winning the toss and opting to bat first. New Zealand made few changes to their team McCullum and Devcich were playing instead of Corey Anderson and Vettori and for Pakistan Asad Shafiq replaced the injured Hafeez and Zulfiqar Babar replaced Tanvir in the playing X1.

Guptill and Brownlie opened the innings for New Zealand as they faced the new opening duo of Irfan and Babar. Guptill started off with a boundary when he hit a juicy full toss by Irfan towards long off. Babar who played in his first match of the One Day series bowled a lose over to Brownlie who struck him for 2 boundaries. Irfan came back with vengeance in his second over when he got Guptill's wicket with a short delivery which bounced and took an edge which Shafiq held onto. Guptill departed for 8 runs and score was 20/1 when Williamson arrived.

Williamson continued showing his great batting form as he struck 2 boundaries off Irfan before he was taken out of the attack. Afridi introduced Anwar and himself into the attack. Five good overs were bowled between them without a boundary until Williamson played a masterful stoke on the off-side for a boundary on Anwar. Boundaries started to came in every over after that and the partnership reached 66 runs until Babar was reintroduced into the attack and he straight away trapped Brownlie LBW on 34.

Score was 86/2 when Taylor joined Williamson. Pakistan bowlers - Haris, Babar and Afridi - bowled many tight middle overs between them. The two Kiwi batsman only looked to rotate the strike against the spinners. Williamson brought up his half century during their partnership and looked well set towards another hundred. The two batsman continued their slow approach and their partnership crossed above 50 with that. 

Powerplay overs started with Babar and Irfan in the attack. Williamson welcomed Babar with ease and hit him with two back to back boundaries. Irfan bowled the second over and conceded 8 runs. Desperate Afridi looking to contain decided to bowl himself in and bowled a good tidy over conceding only 2 runs. Irfan from the other end bowled another over conceding 7 runs where Taylor reached his half century with a boundary. The partnership continued to grow and reached the 100 run mark.

Williamson was dismissed on 97 when he top-edged Afridi's slow delivery, it deflected off the helmet and went straight into Sarfraz's gloves. Score was 202/3 when Ronchi arrived, The approached quickly changed with his arrival as Taylor hit one big six on Anwar, two boundaries to Babar where as Ronchi hit one boundary and a six on Irfan before he got out to him when Afridi caught his aerial shot for 16 runs. 

Score was 241/4 when Latham arrived in 47th over. The two added 34 runs till the end of 50 overs with Latham hitting three boundaries in the last two overs of Irfan and Anwar taking the score to 275/4. Latham scored 22 and Taylor remained unbeaten on 88.

Pakistan started their run chase with Nasir and Shehzad as they faced Henry and Milne. Nasir was dismissed on the fifth delivery of the first over when he was given LBW for 0 on Henry's bowling. Younis walked into the middle next. Both Shehzad and Younis struggled to score fluently against the quicks and runs were difficult to come by for the Pakistani batsman. Younis was dismissed by Henry when he edged a short delivery to keeper Ronchi for 12. 

Score was 22/2 when Shafiq walked in next but batting troubles didn't end here as his stay at the crease was very brief. Once again he got dismissed LBW for 7 runs by a part timer Devcich and this completed a total failure from the top 3 in the series decider. Pakistan were 38/3 when Haris walked in next at 5, Shehzad and Haris both reponded well to the challenge of chasing the total and taking the team out of the the mess as the duo built a solid partnership which only got better and better with time.

Shehzad reached his half century and the two contributed in a 69 run stand until Shehzad threw it away with a soft dismissal. He was caught at 54 by Williamson on Henry's bowling. Pakistan were 107/4 when Umar walked in next at 6, Umar played 11 only deliveries before being caught at short midwicket for 6 runs. 

Score was 117/5 when Sarfraz joined Haris. The two went on to add 55 runs to the team total and the partnership kept the fight going until New Zealand picked two quick wickets to get back the upper hand in the game. Haris was the first, dismissed by McClenaghan who bowled him for 65 and Sarfraz followed him quickly when he edged one to the keeper on Henry's bowling. Sarfraz went for 26.

Pakistan were 174/7 as Afrdi and Anwar looked to finish things off for Pakistan. Anwar could only score 18 runs with three boundaries before he was stumped by Ronchi on Nathan's bowling. Afridi could only score two more boundaries for Pakistan before he was caught on 13 by Taylor off Henry's bowling. Henry ended up with a five wicket haul with this wicket. Score was 207 when Babar was bowled by Milne for 2 runs ending Pakistan's inning and winning the ODI series 3-2.

The final scoreline of the ODI series may be painful reading for Pakistani eyes but represents a fair outcome in that it clearly showed how meager Pakistan's bowling resources were in terms of containment. It obviously showed the weaknesses in the Pakistan batting line up. All of the above are areas of grave concern for the team management as Pakistan head to Australia/New Zealand to participate in the 2015 World Cup. Quite simply put, if Pakistan batsmen are finding it difficult to handle the New Zealand pace attack in favourable conditions in the UAE, then what hope is there of them handling similar or better attacks in abroad? Time is running out and unless a magic solution is found to Pakistan's issues, a swift exit from the World Cup is the likely outcome.

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