McCullum helps Kiwis level the series

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: November 7, 2009

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Abu Dhabi: Brendan McCullum has had a really tough past one year. He had a disastrous IPL campaign captaining the Kolkata Knight Riders and was stripped of vice-captaincy of the New Zealand team last month to concentrate on his batting. But he scored a perfectly constructed 131, his second century in 162 matches, paving the way for a 64-run win for New Zealand over Pakistan in the second ODI at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Brendan McCullum helped New Zealand post a very competitive total of 303 for 8 before another comeback man, Scott Styris (3-23), bowled a superb spell to trigger a middle order collapse for Pakistan as they were bowled out for 239, leaving the three match series level at 1-1. Pakistan had earlier won the first one-dayer by 138 runs on Tuesday.

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss on a flat batting wicket and opted to bat first. Pakistan got an early breakthrough when Aaron Redmond (6) was caught by Younis Khan off the bowling of Mohammad Aamer. Brendan McCullum then consolidated the innings in the company of Martin Guptill (62), adding 126 runs for the second wicket.

Coming on the back of a horrible year with the bat and being stripped of vice-captaincy, McCullum looked in complete control in his 129-ball knock of 131 which included 14 fours and three sixes. Guptill provided him able support with his 70 ball 62 including five boundaries and two sixes.

McCullum also added 44 for the fifth wicket with Vettori (30) before Razzaq returned for his second spell to have the New Zealand captain caught behind off a miscued hit. McCullum reached the three-figure mark off 108 deliveries. He also added 56 for the seventh wicket with Jacob Oram who made 33 not out. He was finally dismissed in the 47th over, bowled off an inside edge by paceman Umar Gul.

For Pakistan, Afridi was once again in the thick of things, picking up 2 for 49 off his 10 overs.

Chasing a challenging target of 304, Pakistan got off to a solid start with the openers, Salman Butt (59) and Khalid Latif (45), adding 77 for the first wicket in 16 overs. Latif was the first to go falling leg before to Daniel Vettori in the 17th over. Butt and Younis Khan (19) kept Pakistan well on course for a tight finish adding 47 for the second wicket before Vettori introduced Scott Styris into the attack.

Styris struck three times in ten deliveries to turn the match on his head. Styris, who was bowling for New Zealand for the first time in 13 months, first accounted for Younis getting him caught at mid-wicket by a diving Ross Taylor. On the very next ball, he induced a false shot from the in-form Shahid Afridi (0) to make him give a catch to the same fielder. In his next over, Styris had Kamran Akmal (4) caught at short cover.

Butt was then run out after a huge confusion with Mohammad Yousuf. Vettori came back to trap Yousuf (18) in front of the wickets, pushing Pakistan to the brink of a defeat. Shoaib Malik (26) and Abdul Razzaq (35) did put up a fight but the acceleration came a bit too late for Pakistan. They were eventually bowled out for 239 in 47.2 overs, giving the Kiwis a comfortable victory by 64 runs. For New Zealand, skipper Daniel Vettori again bowled a splendid spell of 2 for 37 off 10 overs.

The final match of the series will be played at the same ground on Monday.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 303 for 8 (McCullum 131, Guptill 62) beat Pakistan 239 (Butt 59, Styris 3-23) by 64 runs

Man of the Match: Brendan McCullum

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