Black Caps forced to settle for T20 Series draw

By Alex Powell

The Black Caps have been forced to settle for a series draw, as hosts Pakistan claimed a nine-run victory in the fifth and final match, played in Lahore on Sunday morning.

Despite taking a 2-1 lead with a four-run win at the same venue on Friday (NZ time), a heavily inexperienced Black Caps outfit were unable to complete the heist, up against a Pakistan side at close to full strength.

After stand-in captain Michael Bracewell won the toss and opted to bowl first, the Black Caps kept their hosts to a respectable 178/5 batting first, but could only reply with 169 before being bowled out in the final over.

Needing to score 12 runs from the final over, all-rounder Josh Clarkson (38 not out off 26 balls) was stranded when the pair of bowlers Ben Sears and Will O’Rourke were both run out attempting to allow the senior batter to take strike.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was the hero for Pakistan, taking 4/30 with the ball to put paid to any thoughts of an unlikely series win for the tourists.

Batting first, Pakistan captain Babar Azam led from the front with 69 runs from 44 balls, and was supported by 43 from 33 to Fakhar Zaman.

Jimmy Neesham was the pick of the Kiwi bowlers with 1/13, albeit from one over, as five bowlers shared one wicket apiece. O’Rourke (1/25) and Ish Sodhi (1/30) both impressed with the ball, while the pair of Zak Foulkes (1/35) and Sears (1/46) were both expensive in their four-over spells.

In reply, the Black Caps lost wicket-keeper Tom Blundell in the first over, when he was bowled by Shaheen for just four. But after losing his opening partner, Tim Seifert took over with a 29-ball half-century.

Playing as a specialist batter, Seifert hit seven fours and two sixes, but his dismissal - bowled by Usama Mir - triggered a collapse.

From 81/1, the Black Caps fell to 103/5 as captain Bracewell (23), game three hero Mark Chapman (12), and Cole McConchie (1) all fell in succession.

Clarkson played the lone hand at the end of the innings, in comfortably his best display with the bat at international level. The all-rounder his three boundaries and two sixes, but ran out of partners as Shaheen dismissed the lower order.

And with 12 needed from the final over, the Black Caps could manage just two, before they were dismissed for 169 with four balls left in the innings.

Despite the defeat, the Black Caps can be proud of a 2-2 scoreline, missing a host of players to either the Indian Premier League, injury or rotation.

Sunday’s fifth game was the last before the Twenty20 World Cup squad is named this week, however just how many places are afforded to the players on the tour of Pakistan is still to be seen.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission