New Zealand 243 for 5 (Michelle 57, Latham 56, Naseem 2-43) Beat Pakistan 242 (Rizwan 46, Aga 45, O’Rurke 4-43, Santner 2-20) by five wickets
Latham had benefited from many people – she was removed from her own bowling by Shaheen Shah Afridi at 15, and then by Saud Shakeel in Square leg on 29th. Earlier, when he was at 13, Legspinner Abrar Ahmed pinged him on his pad. ‘T gave LBW. Pakistan did not go for a review and missed a trick, with ball-tracking shows that it was picked into the line and crashed into the stump.
Pakistan’s expert spinner, Abrar, was lacking an entry, and was taken for 67 in his ten overs. In Stark Contrast, New Zealand’s premiere spinner Santner was unnatural, coming with his most economical ten-over spell in OD cricket. His 60 balls were forty dots as Santner separated his speed with a remarkable control in the middle of the 90s from the KPH range of the 70s. Bracewell also kept things tight, finishing with 2 for 38 in his ten overs.
The first powerplay was a part of Pakistan’s Go-Flow. He played 48 dots at Powerplay, in which he managed 48 for 2, and failed to hit a high tempo through the innings. After taking a sequence of small balls away from the fakhar with his sharp angle from the top of the wicket, O’Rurke brought a full-flesh back to the opener and a catch for Square Leg for 10 for Square Leg for 10 Had to stick. 15 balls.
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan required 13 balls to get off the mark, and then four more balls to find Seema. Salman Aga was more fluent at the other end, dropping the ball in interval, the pair shared an 88 -run partnership for the fourth wicket.
However, the stand came to an end when O’Rurke returned to the attack and Rizwan chopped with the cross-range, which stopped at him, for 46 off 76 balls. After the split of batsmen with hard length and high speed and bounce in early exchanges, O’Rurke proved that he could be equally effective with the old ball. After about five overs, Bracewell reduced a reverse sweep to leave Pakistan for 5 in 161 in the 37th over.
Tayyab Tahir then leg-up the innings with 38 runs in his 33 balls, but his innings was reduced by Dafi in the 42nd over. In the last eight overs, New Zealand accepted just four borders keeping Pakistan till 242.
The new ball did a lot under the light, in which Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi used swing and seam movement to apply pressure to Conway and Williamson. During the pursuit, in the first powerplay, the broadcaster kept a graphic showing the average swing achieved during the two innings. New Zealand’s seamers produced 1.5 degrees swing and 2.4 degrees of Pakistan.
The experienced pair of Conway and Williamson absorbed everyone of that pressure, and once the ball became old and soft, they removed Pakistan’s spinners. Williamson mounted Aga’s offspins on mid-off, while Conway blew Abrar and Khushdil Shah through cover. When Williamson tried to pop Aga on the Infield once again, he took a dip and turned to cast him for 34 runs off 49 balls. Conway then left two small parts of half a century, but in the middle of New Zealand, the depth in skills was very high for Pakistan.
New Zealand will be further strengthened by the possible return of Ravindra and Ferguson for the Champions Trophy opener on Wednesday.
Deivarayan Muthu Espncricinfo has a sub-editor











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