Mark Chapman’s century powered New Zealand to the win, though they were helped by a lower-order collapse for Pakistan in the first ODI.
Mark Chapman’s century inflicted misery on Pakistan as he propelled New Zealand to a 73-run victory in the first ODI of their three-match series.
Nathan Smith also played his part with a four-for as Pakistan struggled to come up with answers at McLean Park on Saturday as New Zealand take a 1-0 lead in the series.
The tourists’ bowlers made a strong start; Naseem Shah took Will Young for just one at the end of the third over before Akif Javed ensured they dropped to 50-3 in the 13th, having made life difficult for debutant Nick Kelly (15) and Henry Nicholls (11).
However, they came undone as Mark Chapman (132) and Daryl Mitchell (76) put together an impressive 199-run partnership, falling just short of a double century as Irfan Khan Niazi (3-51) dismissed the latter for his first wicket of the day.
Even when he followed that up by claiming the big fish, thanks to Tayyab Tahir’s catch, Pakistan-born New Zealand debutant Muhammad Abbas (52) added a half-century, claiming it on the penultimate ball of the innings as he helped the hosts to 344-9.
With a big chase on their hands, Pakistan looked uncomfortable from the start, though Usman Khan (39) and Abdullah Shafique (36) both scored handy knocks to get them off the mark.
Babar Azam steadied the ship with a patient 78 alongside Mohammad Rizwan (30), and even as the asking rate continued to grow, they kept the tourists firmly in the game.
Salman Ali Agha (58) also brought up a half-century, but after Azam fell with Pakistan at 249-4, the wickets began to tumble.
Jacob Duffy ran out Tahir (1) and bowled Irfan Khan for a first-ball duck within two balls in the 40th over before Smith (4-60) got a treble in quick succession, taking Shah (0), Haris Rauf (1) and Akif Javed (1) to leave Pakistan well short of their target on 271.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Chapman did a lot of the heavy lifting for New Zealand in the first innings, but a lower-order collapse orchestrated by Smith was just as crucial.
Chapman’s 132 – a career-best for him – is the highest score by a Black Caps player against Pakistan in ODIs, surpassing Ross Taylor (131* – March 2011) and Brendon McCullum (131 – November 2009).
Meanwhile, Abbas became the 10th player to score 50+ in their ODI debut for New Zealand, with his 52; his batting strike rate of 200 is the best of any of those 10 players to do so.
As for Pakistan, their three runs from the bottom six batters is the third fewest runs by a lower order in an all-out innings in men’s ODIs (0 for Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka in 2008 and two for Kenya v Pakistan in 2011). Sportsmax
