Unforgiving Taylor slivers Pakistan on his Birthday rampage

World Cup 2011 – Match Report: Pakistan v New Zealand, Group, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, 8 March 2011

It was a tale of two individuals. One stuck to his task and made use of the opportunities to inflict annihilation of such kind to the opponent which can hardly be matched. He is Ross Taylor who celebrated his 27th birthday by coming back into form in murderous fashion. The other carried on making juvenile gaffes as a result of continuous denial behaving like a buffoon. He is Kamran Akmal who not only dropped vital chances but became a model of indifference behind the stumps.

Pakistan who had won all their matches were tipped to win again but New Zealand mauled them in style to go top of the group. Pakistan brought back Shoaib Akhtar and Abdur Rehman in place of Wahab Riaz and Saeed Ajmal while for New Zealand Jamie How replaced unwell Jesse Ryder and Hamish Bennett made way for Jacob Oram. Daniel Vettori elected to have a bat after winning the toss on a dry surface with a little bit of grass on it.

The proceedings started dramatically, Brendon McCullum hitting a six on the 3rd delivery from Shoaib Akhtar which was a free-hit. Shoaib soon was aeroplane taking off as he pegged back McCullum’s off stump with a beautiful in-cutter. Jamie How joined Martin Guptill as Pakistan started with Abdur Rehman from the other end.

Shoaib though had cut down his pace a bit for accuracy, bowled two more no-balls, each costing Pakistan a free-hit boundary. Guptill had no problems negotiating the early swing and got off to a quick start. How, on the other hand, was ultra-defensive and after laboring for 4 off 29 balls was sent to pavilion by Umar Gul.

Ross Taylor was handed two gifts by Kamran Akmal on his 27th birthday when Shoaib, coming back for a new spell, induced two regulation edges in three balls. He let go of the first and grassed the next one which was so straightforward that even Boycott’s mother would have pouched. New Zealand were squeezed considerably as a result of some good captaincy from Afridi who rotated his bowlers intelligently backed by some good field placing. They reached 100 in 26 overs.

Guptill who had slowed down markedly was castled by Afridi, highest wicket-taker in the world cup so far, with a lovely drifter for 57 (86 balls, 6 fours). He and Ross had put on 57 runs. James Franklin was undone by Hafeez who had him LBW from round the wicket. Afridi would have had Styris early in his innings but Kamran did what he does best, dropped him.

Ross Taylor after reaching 50 was well and truly back in form with some solid batting and some help from Pakistan. He put on 62 runs for 5th wicket with Scott Styris. New Zealand were 163 for 4 after 40 overs and were thinking of reaching 250 at that stage.

They took batting powerplay after 41 overs but Styris departed after being LBW off Gul. Afridi and Gul bowled tightly and New Zealand scratched to 188 after 44 overs. Afridi was then taken to cleaners by Nathan McCullum and Taylor who both hit a six each to herald that something ominous was on cards. Although Gul removed McCullum after receiving a six in his next over, New Zealand had saved their brutality for the last 4 overs.

Shoaib Akhtar came back for his last spell but was plundered by Taylor who collected 28 runs from his over by hitting him for two fours and three sixes. When he bowled on the off, he hammered him for fours. His attempt to bowl yorkers went horribly wrong as Taylor spanked the full tosses out into the stands. The last ball was a length delivery which he pulled over mid-wicket to bring up his blistering hundred (117 balls, 6 fours, 4 sixes).

Oram joined the fun and carted Abdur Rehman for a four and six. As bowling disintegrated, Afridi too became clueless as a captain. It was a big mistake by him to finish off Gul’s spell so early. Seeing Shoaib being blown away by Taylor, Afridi turned to Abdul Razzaq for the penultimate over but the horror movie turned to a scary murder scene. Taylor continued his savagery and looted 30 runs from the over with 3 sixes and 2 fours. Oram added to Pakistan’s misery with two more sixes in the last over from Abdur Rehman before holing out. Black Caps ended with a mammoth 302 for 7 and Ross Taylor remained not out on superlative albeit fortuitous 131 off 124 balls including 8 fours and 7 sixes.

Although Pakistan bowled horribly but New Zealand lead by Taylor took full toll and mauled the bowling with unprecedented spitefulness. They made 139 runs in last 10 overs off which last 92 runs came off just 24 balls. For Pakistan Umar Gul stood out with figures of 3 for 32 in his 10 overs. At the half-way stage, Pakistan were demoralized and shattered while New Zealand were overjoyed and happily stunned.

With the wicket bound to offer assistance to the seam bowlers under the night sky, Pakistan’s task was made doubly difficult. The openers needed to give their team a brisk start. But they crumbled under pressure and had no answer to the hostility and swing of New Zealand opening bowlers, Tim Southee and Kyle Mills.

Ahmed Shehzad and Hafeez both got out cheaply getting LBW while trying to play across. Younis’s stumps were shattered by Mills with a gorgeous in-swinger while Kamran Akmal and Misbah were caught in the off-side cordon on the bowling off Southee. Shahid Afridi hit a few lusty blows but his desperation was ended by Oram who bowled him neck and crop. From a position as precarious as 66 for 6 in 17.1 overs, Pakistan were done and dusted by the Black Caps.

Abdul Razzaq threatened to bring Pakistan back in the game when he associated with Umar Akmal for a handy partnership of 36 runs. But departure of Umar Akmal made the task a near impossible one although Abdul Razzaq changed to an aggressive mode. Umar Gul played some handsome shots in a quick partnership of 66 runs for the 9th with Abdul Razzaq as they took the 3rd powerplay in the process. Dismissal of Abdul for 62 (74 balls, 9 fours) hastened the inevitable and Pakistan folded at 192 in 41.4 overs. Gul remained not out on 34 off 25 balls. Southee was the pick of bowlers with 3 for 25 while Mills, McCullum and Styris all took 2 wickets each.

New Zealand won comfortably by 110 runs. This result has given them belief to go far into the tournament. They will hope that Vettori gets fit as he hobbled out for a medical check up mid way through Pakistan’s innings. It was a thrashing for Pakistan who now have many issues to settle before their next match.

Pakistan must have realized the need for an extra bowler after this humiliation as they cannot rely solely on Afridi all the time. Openers need to step up too but the biggest hole they have to fill is the keeping. Kamran Akmal should either be shown the door or asked to play as a specialist batsman handing the gloves over to junior Akmal or even Asad Shafiq.

Match Result: New Zealand 302/7 ( Ross Taylor 131*, Guptill 57; Gul 3/32) beat Pakistan 192/10 in 41.4 overs ( Abdul Razzaq 62, Umar Akmal 38; Southee 3/25, Styris 2/17) by 110 runs

Man of the Match: Ross Taylor