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Pak have little
trouble in defeating a nervous NZ |
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Scorecard
 In
the afternoon match at Newlands in Cape Town,
Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat
first on a dry wicket. The conditions however
were very dark and cloudy, perfect for some one
like Asif to run through batting line-ups. There
was a pre-match worry for Pakistan with Asif
being a doubtful starter with an elbow injury,
but he got himself fit in time to play this
knock-out match. Vincent and McCullum gave a
steady start but the Kiwis weren't quite getting
the fours and sixes rolling. Fawad Alam, the
left armer spinner gave the breakthrough for Pak
with a smart return catch to end Lou Vincent's
stay (28 from 28 with a six) in the 8th over
with NZ getting 50 on the board. From the 11th
over onwards, Pakistan kept on chipping at the
wickets as New Zealand tried to break the
shackles. Umar Gul did most of the damage with
his sharp pace and movement in the air and off
the track to take the wickets of Styris, Fulton
and Oram. Fawad Alam had did his bit in removing
the dangerous Craig McMillan and when Oram was
caught behin, Kiwis were going nowhere at 106
for 6 after 16. They could just manage 143 on
the board for the loss of 8 wickets with Ross
Taylor providing a late flourish with 37 from 23
with 2 sixes.
Umar Gul
bowled a match winning spell of 3 for 15 in his
4 overs which gave him the Man of the Match
award. Pakistan just cruised through the
moderate target after getting a superb start
from Mohammad Hafeez (32 from 21 with 3 fours
and two sixes) and Imran Nazir (59 from 41 with
3 fours and 5 sixes). Shoaib Malik finished the
match along with Misbah-ul-Haq with a couple of
sixes. The New Zealand bowling just didn't look
penetrative enough and in particular their
strike bowler Shane Bond looked very flat and
ineffective.
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