Caps nine runs short of series win

Understrength side share T20 series in Pakistan ahead of Cup squad naming

The Black Caps have been forced to settle for a series draw, as hosts Pakistan claimed a nine-run victory in their fifth and final Twenty20 match, played in Lahore yesterday.

Despite taking a 2-1 lead with a four-run win at the same venue on Friday, 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, the Black Caps kept their hosts to a respectable 178-5 but could reply with only 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 bowlers Ben Sears and Will O’Rourke were both run out attempting to allow the senior batter to take strike.

Bracewell said a draw was a fair reflection of the series.

“Credit to Pakistan, they played really well,” Bracewell said. “We lost a couple of wickets in the middle and that put us on the back foot.

We were keeping the run rate [in check] but those wickets were the turning point.”

Shaheen Shah Afridi was the star for Pakistan, taking 4-30 with the ball to stymie hopes 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.

Babar dubbed his team’s total a “par score”.

“I think we should have scored 15 to 20 runs more,” Babar said. “Throughout the series, we tried different combinations and we wanted to see where our bench strength stands. There are many good signs but we won’t be complacent.”

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, while Zak Foulkes (1-35) and Sears (1-46) were expensive in their four-over spells.

In reply, the Black Caps lost wicketkeeper Tom Blundell in the first over, bowled by Shaheen for just four. But fellow opener Tim Seifert then took over with a 29-ball half-century.

Playing as a specialist batter, Seifert hit seven fours and two sixes, but his dismissal for 52 off 33 balls — 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 hit 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 scored 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 series scoreline, missing a host of players to the Indian Premier League, injury or rotation.

Yesterday’s fifth game was the last before the Twenty20 World Cup squad is named today.