Shehzad lifts Pak to series win

Feb. 3: A maiden century by teenage opener Ahmed Shehzad inspired Pakistan to a 41-run win over New Zealand Thursday to wrap up the six-match one-day series with a game to spare.The 19-year-old cracked 115 off 109 deliveries in a masterful innings in Hamilton as Pakistan posted 268/9 after being sent into bat first in the fifth ODI. New Zealand, who are on a rotten run of form, made the worst possible start to their reply, losing a wicket on the first ball when Jesse Ryder was run out and they never threatened from there.Their innings came to a halt in the 47th over at 227 to give Pakistan an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the series with one match washed out, while New Zealand have now lost 15 of their past 16 ODIs. It was a timely performance from Shehzad, who delivered on the promise he had hinted at in his previous seven international innings, which produced a total of 173 runs.Around him, the other Pakistan batsmen failed to get on top of New Zealand pace attack.Umar Akmals 32 before he was run out was the second highest score while Misbah-ul-Haq, the dominant performer in the series so far, struggled to 25 before he fell to an acrobatic catch by Jacob Oram at deep square leg.After winning the toss and opting to bowl first in overcast conditions, New Zealand made the surprise move of resting their best swing exponent Tim Southee. But their reasoning appeared to be a preference for slower deliveries, which paid dividends with medium pacers Oram and Scott Styris taking two wickets apiece. Styris claimed the crucial scalp of Shehzad, who hit 12 fours and three sixes in his lengthy innings, all of them off new ball bowler Hamish Bennett.He was striking out for another six when he was deceived by a slower ball and got under it too far, scooping a catch to James Franklin.SCOREBOARD
Pakistan
M. Hafeez c N. McCullum b Mills 14, A. Shehzad c Franklin b Styris 115, K. Akmal run out 17, Younis Khan c Styris b N. McCullum 21, Misbah-ul-Haq c Oram b Styris 25, U. Akmal
run out 32, S. Afrid! i c Gupt ill b Oram 24, A. Razzaq c How b Mills 3, W. Riaz not out 2, U. Gul c Ryder b Oram 1
Extras (b7, 1b2, w4, nb1)14
Total (in 50 overs)268/9
FoW: 1-20, 2-73, 3-120, 4-197, 5-205, 6-248, 7-252, 8-265, 9-268
Bowling: Mills 10-2-42-2, Bennett 8-0-56-0, Oram 10-0-49-2 (1w), N. McCullum 10-0-40-1, Styris 9-0-51-2 (2w), Franklin 3-0-21-0 (1nb, 1w)New Zealand
M. Guptill c U. Akmal b Akhtar 65, J. Ryder run out 0, J. How c Hafeez b Riaz 12, R. Taylor lbw b Afridi 69, B. McCullum c sub (Rehman) b Afridi 9, S. Styris run out 9, J. Franklin b Riaz 16, N. McCullum b Gul 14, J. Oram c U. Akmal b Gul 10, K. Mills not out 4, H. Bennett b Riaz 3
Extras (lb8, w7, nb1)16
Total (in 46.5 overs)227
FoW: 1-0, 2-53, 3-112, 4-131, 5-150, 6-192, 7-194, 8-207, 9-222, 10-227
Bowling: Razzaq 4-1-19-0, Akhtar 8-0-32-1 (1w), Riaz 8.5-0-51-3 (1nb, 5w), Gul 7-0-28-2, Afridi 10-0-55-2, Hafeez 9-0-34-0 (1w).

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