Pakistan full of fire, scorch their way to final

New Zealand got off to a good start with a 50-run partnership between opening batsmen Brendon McCullum and Lou Vincent, but a 33-minute break for rain broke the rhythm of the innings, and Vincent fell to a sharp caught-and-bowled chance off Fawad Alam when he had 28.

McCullum fell soon afterward for 26. The New Zealand middle order batsmen all managed to get starts, but none of them turned them into substantial scores.

Bowler Umar Gul finished with 3-15 off his four overs, and his wickets were Scott Styris, Peter Fulton and Jacob Oram. Gul came on after the 12th over — as he has throughout the tournament — and bowled his spell unchanged.

New Zealand’s batsmen managed to get themselves into trouble in the pursuit of runs, with Vettori and Shane Bond getting run out in the final few overs when the pressure was on. “We got into a bit of a mire, and then tried to catch up on the runs,” Vettori said.

Alam gave Gul good support with his bowling, taking 2-29 in three overs.

Pakistan’s innings got off to a good but controversial start. Nazir called for a runner without appearing to have been injured. “He was able to sprint on to the field and celebrate, and charge down the pitch at our bowlers,” Vettori said. “We don’t believe he was injured, and we don’t play our cricket like that.

“He was struggling with his groin injury,” Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik said. “And that’s why he needed a runner.”

Nazir’s 59 in 41 balls was punctuated by three fours and five sixes, and he shared in a good opening partnership of 60 with Mohammad Nafeez, who was second top scorer with 32 off 21 balls.

Vettori and his fellow-spinner Jeetan Patel remained economical in their bowling, despite the ease of Pakistan’s win. Vettori took 1-22 in four overs and Patel 1-31 in three overs and five balls.

“If we had more runs to play with, we would have been in the game,” Vettori said. “This is the worst I have felt after losing a game.”

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand: L Vincent c & b Alam 28, B McCullum lbw Afridi 26, S Styris c Sohail Tanvir b Gul 18, P Fulton c Malik b Gul 10, R Taylor not out 37, C McMillan c Khan b Alam 12,J Oram c Akmal b Umar Gul 1, D Vettori run out 0, S Bond run out 5, J Patel not out 0

Extras (lb1, nb2, w3): 6; Total (For 8 wkts, 20 overs) 143

Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-74, 3-85, 4-87, 5-104, 6-106, 7-107, 8-126

Bowling: Asif 4-0-34-0, Tanvir 4-0-30-0, Afridi 4-0-24-1, Alam 3-0-29-2, Gul 4-0-15-3, Hafeez 1-0-0-0.

Pakistan: M Hafeez lbw Styris 32, I Nazir lbw Patl 59, Y Khan c McCullum b Vettori 4, S Malik not out 26, S Afidi c Fulton b Bond 6, Misbah not out 16

Extras (lb2, w2): 4; Total (For 4 wkts,18.5 overs) 147

Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-96, 3-104, 4-111

Bowling: Bond 4-0-33-1, Gillespie 3-0-30-0, Vettori 4-0-22-1, Styris 3-0-14-1, Patel 3.5-0-31-1, Oram 1-0-15-0