In the first game Pakistan won the toss, batted first and lost Salman Butt and Younis Khan to Shane Bond without a run on the board and they really stuttered along to reach 75 for four. But then Shahid Afridi came in at number six and took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Geoffrey Boycott
November 11, 2009

These three cracking matches were all day-nighters and played on really good pitches in Abu Dhabi; flat and dry and even better than when the Aussies played here in April this year.

In the first game Pakistan won the toss, batted first and lost Salman Butt and Younis Khan to Shane Bond without a run on the board and they really stuttered along to reach 75 for four. But then Shahid Afridi came in at number six and took the game by the scruff of the neck. He was sensible but immensely powerful in making 70 off 50 balls with four fours and three sixes and took the game away from New Zealand. He got Pakistan on a roll so that when he was out they were 176 for five with still 12 overs to go and with that sort of momentum Kamran Akmal, the little wicketkeeper, and Abdul Razzaq smashed it to all parts. Akmal made an unbeaten 70 from 50 balls, making room to hit the ball on the off side and even over third man and finished with five fours and four sixes.

Razzaq had 26 off 20 deliveries mainly by hitting through the leg side and there was a total transformation as Pakistan finished with 287. The Kiwi seamers just couldn’t get the ball full enough, hard as they tried, so they just got mercilessly hammered.

Maybe Pakistan’s batting affected New Zealand psychologically because their batting was very poor in making 149. Their biggest problem was that they didn’t have much idea which way the ball was going to turn and they tried to play Afridi’s wrist spinners and Ajmal’s off spin and doosra off the pitch. But when you can’t pick bowlers it’s hard to hit them. Survive, yes, you can stay in but you can’t make quick runs.

So we went to game two with New Zealand having to do some thinking about their batting and bowling at the death. But after they won the toss it really came down to Brendan McCallum who played out of his skin to make 131 from 129 balls. Questions had been asked about him at home such as whether he should continue playing the same way up front but he constructed a fine, controlled innings and when he got out New Zealand were 274 for seven with four overs left. Martin Guptill was the perfect foil and played beautifully for his 62 off 83 balls. It was a total change round and this time they didn’t allow the spinners, Afridi and Ajmal, to dictate and they went for 49 and 59 respectively. We always knew the Kiwis were good, thinking cricketers and they proved it here, finishing with 303 for eight.

Pakistan had a good start with 92 for one on the board after 20 overs but from that base they made the mistake of not sending in Afridi and Akmal early enough. Younis, struggling for form, took 42 balls over 19 runs, the innings slowed down and the run rate climbed so that by the time the big hitters got in they didn’t have time to have a look at the bowling and had to commit hari-kari. If they’d showed some flexibility in the batting order things might have been different and 239 was well short of par.

At one match all everything was set for the decider and New Zealand had the advantage of batting first, a plus in this hot weather, with McCallum again playing really well with six fours and three sixes, ably supported by Ross Taylor’s 44. But the innings fell away mainly due to that old fault of not being able to play the spinners. Ajmal, four for 33, Afridi, one for 33, and Shoaib Malik, one for 32, added up to six wickets for 98 runs from 27 overs. The game was as good as won on the best pitch of all the three matches with New Zealand all out 211 when a decent total would have been nearer 270.

The crowd, mainly Pakistan supporters, thought it was a foregone conclusion as the openers made a comfortable 47 together but then it was just one calamity after another. Younis ran out Salman Butt going for a suicidal single that even I couldn’t have dreamed up in my worst nightmares. He pushed the ball to cover, set off and left Butt stranded by five yards. Then to make matters worse he got out next ball and got a lot of boos and whistles as he went off under a lot of pressure. Pakistan in trouble with three down for 51 played some appalling shots. Trying to pull the seamers, three of them hit it straight up in the air, Razzaq was run out for a duck and at 101 for nine the crowd was heading for home. But ten and eleven had other ideas and were unbelievable in a last wicket stand that brought an impossible victory within touching distance.

Mohammad Aamer hit Daniel Vettori for three successive sixes over mid wicket and Saeed Ajmal, though not too clever, did his best. We all thought it was a bit of bravado at the end of the innings but they went on playing their shots, running sensibly between the wickets and added 103 for the last wicket, amazing in one-day cricket. They went into the last over needing seven to tie, eight to win but Ajmal fell to the first ball, hitting it straight up into the air. It was a shame they didn’t manage a tie but cricket was the real winner.

Overall I think New Zealand just shaded the series because of McCallum at the top of the order and their fielding was superior.

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