HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND // Shahid Afridi lamented his side's impotent bowling display after New Zealand recorded a series-clinching victory yesterday.
The limited-overs captain would have been expecting his seam bowlers to exploit the bowler-friendly conditions at a damp Seddon Park and the portents looked encouraging when Abdul Razzaq had Jesse Ryder caught behind off the first ball of the match.
However, that wicket proved to be the high-water mark for the visitors as the Black Caps racked up a total of 185 for seven.
Afridi, with some justification, would have been disappointed with the contributions of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul, who went at over 10 and 15 an over, respectively. Gul was hit for 24 from one over by Peter McGlashan.
"I'm disappointed from the bowling side," Afridi said. "We didn't bowl well, especially our experienced bowlers and put the ball in the right areas. They played positively and we didn't bowl to our strength which is the yorker."
Martin Guptill and James Franklin capitalised on some wayward bowling, forming a productive partnership for the second wicket that yielded 91 runs.
Scott Styris then made 34, the captain Ross Taylor stroked 30 not out off 40 balls. McGlashan's 26 came off just 13 balls.
In reply, Nathan McCullum raced through the Pakistan middle order to finish with four for 16 from four overs.
The spinner dismissed Younus Khan for three, Asad Shafiq for six, Razzaq for 14 and Gul for nought, then took two catches to provoke the collapse of the Pakistan innings after the tourists had been 68 for one in the eighth over.
Tim Southee, the swing bowler, took two wickets with two balls at the end to finish with two for 26 and spinner Luke Woodcock bowled his four overs for 20 runs in a tidy debut to ensure Pakistan did not threaten the New Zealand total.
"It was a good performance," Taylor said.
"The partnership between Guptill and Franklin after Jesse went early set a good platform for the other players to come out and express themselves."
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years-of-age
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his/her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30-years-old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
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Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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