Yesterday’s torrential rain and on-going drizzle has left Napier’s McLean Park saturated ahead of today’s second one-day worldwide between the Black Caps and Pakistan, forcing umpires to delay the 2pm start. Join The Roar for live scores of this match from 12pm (AEDT). Their regular skipper Brendon McCullum is scheduled t return to the team for the third and final ODI at Auckland. The Kiwis managed 280 courtesy a heroic stand by Henry Nicholls and the tail-enders. Babar Azam scored 62, while Mohammad Hafeez scored 42 and it was their partnership that gave a glimmer of hope for Pakistan to have a chance of winning the match. With Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi only scoring 15 runs between them the pressure was applied to the tail.
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Muhammad Amir and Anwar Ali bagged three wickets apiece for Pakistan, while Muhammad Irfan took two for 43 runs in his 10 overs.
Azhar Ali and his men opted to chase in the windy conditions and brought the Kiwis to their knees when the first six wickets went down for only 99 runs in 22.1 overs. While Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez would offer some resistance, it just wasn’t enough and the New Zealand bowlers led by Trent Boult (4/40) and Grant Elliot (3/43) would never be put under pressure. Pakistan appeared to go to sleep in the first innings as New Zealand rebuilt from what looked like a sure losing position.
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Earlier, proving to be consistently inconsistent, Pakistan had faced defeat in the first one-day global against New Zealand at Basin Reserve in Wellington on Monday.
