Cricket

The pressure was on New Zealand at the halfway stage in their chase as their batsmen were up against a determined bowling performance from Pakistan and a creeping required rate. Martin Guptill took over the task of anchoring a chase of 269 amid a tight spell from Pakistan's seamers who gave little away, while Ross Taylor, the captain, who's battling inconsistency, supported him at the crease. The partnership threatened to keep New Zealand's hopes of a series win alive but Guptill's resolve ended when he mistimed a pull in the 24th over, leaving it to the rest to build from scratch.

The start to the chase could not have been worse for the hosts as Jesse Ryder backed up too far and was run out without facing a ball by a direct hit from Misbah-ul-Haq. New Zealand would have banked on Ryder, back in the XI after missing out due to injury, to provide some early impetus but that responsibility was passed on to Jamie How, who struggled.

Unlike New Zealand's bowlers who had provided ample scoring opportunities to ease the pressure on Pakistan after each dismissal, Pakistan's fast bowlers hardly ever overpitched, bowled consistently in the channel outside off and dried up the runs. How was choked at one end as he played and missed, failed to beat the field when he connected well, found it difficult to measure up to variations in pace and ironically, succumbed to one of his more favoured shots. After seeing out 38 balls for his 12 runs, he pulled Wahab Riaz straight to deep midwicket.

Guptill, watching the proceedings at the other end, faced the pressure with a combination of bravado and opportunism. He dealt harshly with deliveries bowled wide or pitched up on middle - there weren't too many of them - and improvised to clear the infield. Abdul Razzaq was struck through point and midwicket when he erred in length and Shoaib Akhtar was driven back over his head. Guptill ensured a steady flow of singles, ran well between the wickets as the field spread out and continued to be ruthless when freebies came his way. Shahid Afridi dropped short twice to be slashed through point, and Shoaib was dealt the same way when he offered width. But having survived a close lbw shout early in his innings, Guptill failed to take full toll, as a short delivery from Shoaib came on a touch too quickly and he holed out to deep square leg.

The onus was on a determined Taylor, who took his time to settle in and overcome the nervy start that has plagued him this series. He appeared to be getting back to his groove when just a firm push off Afridi raced to the extra-cover boundary and, in the company of Guptill, to whom he had ceded floor, kept his team on par with the required rate. Pakistan slipped up when Mohammad Hafeez gave Brendon McCullum a life, dropping him on zero, keeping New Zealand in the hunt in what is building up to be a thrilling chase.

50 overs Pakistan 268 for 9 (Shehzad 115) v New Zealand

Pakistan received another boost in their preparation for the World Cup with opener Ahmed Shehzad stealing the limelight with an attacking century, his first in ODIs, to set a challenging target in a crunch game for the hosts. Shehzad batted with utmost confidence during his calculated assault, overcoming a cautious start and an early wicket in overcast conditions by launching a counter-attack that snatched the initiative New Zealand had worked hard to gain at the start of the game.

A miserly first spell by Kyle Mills appeared to have justified Ross Taylor's decision to bowl, as it cramped the usually fluent openers through nagging lines outside off stump and crafty variations in pace. He conceded just one run in his first three overs and when he provided a rare opportunity, offering Mohammad Hafeez, generally solid and fresh from a century, some width, he earned a wicket as the batsman spooned a catch to mid-off.

Shehzad, though, was determined to pull things back. He had warmed up with a crisp straight drive off Hamish Bennett but turned to power play to release the pressure created by the early wicket. Mills' tight lines were countered with a mow past mid-off and an agricultural slog over midwicket, catching the bowler off guard and marking a turn in the tide. Shehzad had won the psychological battle when Mills strayed onto the pads the next over, to be glanced to the fine-leg boundary.

A feature of Shehzad's knock was his domination of Bennett, which offset any pressure New Zealand were able to inflict with the fall of a wicket. Bennett overpitched too often, or dropped too short, and was picked off consistently for boundaries. He squandered some hard work by conceding fours off the last balls of his first two overs and was struck for consecutive boundaries by an initially rusty Kamran Akmal before Shehzad singled him out for treatment. He was launched for a straight six and welcomed in his second spell with a violent pull over the midwicket boundary followed by a clean strike over long-on.

While Shehzad took timely risks and had the power and ability to back them up, he was ruthless against the opportunities doled out by the bowlers when Pakistan had been forced to shift gears in the middle overs. The run-out of Kamran resulted in four boundary-less overs before Nathan McCullum, otherwise quite tidy, gifted a short and wide delivery that Shehzad slashed through point. Scott Styris met a similar fate while James Franklin was a victim of Shehzad's subtleties as he was twice scooped over fine leg. The constant, throughout Shehzad's innings, only his seventh in this format, was his assuredness and determination to keep the hosts worried at one end. When he fell, miscuing Styris to deep square leg, with plenty of ammunition left in the batting, New Zealand were staring at an intimidating target.

Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, Shehzad's senior partners, built useful partnerships but fell trying to step up. With a Powerplay to go, Pakistan were still in control. New Zealand, however, caught well and their medium-pacers managed to restrain a power-packed middle order through some accurate bowling. Low full tosses proved difficult to score off, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq holed out to be dismissed in consecutive overs while Oram and Benett combined to keep Pakistan down to just 11 in the last three overs. Only once has a team lost chasing at Seddon Park since 2002 but with New Zealand's recent ODI record in a shambles, Pakistan won't really be worried about past results at the venue.