2285dThe Report by Danyal Rasool

De Grandhomme and Munro overcome Pakistan's fight

It was a contest between the sophistication of Pakistan's bowling attack and the raw power of two New Zealand batsmen named Colin. And as with all other games on this tour, it was the home side who emerged victorious

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Hafeez
81(80) 5x4 - 4x6
Control %81%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull
  • 20 runs
  • 2x4 - 1x6
2 10 11 6 11 12 11 18
C de Grandhomme
C de Grandhomme
74(40) 7x4 - 5x6
Control %73%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull
  • 19 runs
  • 2x4 - 1x6
5 0 5 1 11 4 17 31

Best performances - Bowlers

Shadab Khan
Shadab Khan
O10
M0
R42
W3
Eco4.20
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
1W
TG Southee
TG Southee
O8
M0
R44
W3
Eco5.50
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

Pakistan , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Series result

New Zealand led the 5-match series 4-0

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

14.00 start, First Session 14.00-17.30 Interval 17.30-18.15, Second Session 18.15-21.45

Match days

16 January 2018 - day/night match (50-over match)

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan

Eleven successive wins across formats for New Zealand. That's a new national record. Given the way the juggernaut has marched, will we see a 5-0 sweep? Or can Pakistan come hard for one final time and end up on the right side of the result? We will find out in due course. For now, this is all we have. Thanks for joining us. We hope you'll all be back for the final ODI on Friday. Goodbye from Alagappan and myself.

Ahmed Hayat: "Other than the abysmal performance by the batsman this series, what Pakistan has truly lacked are real fast bowlers than bowl upwards of 145KP, along with the selection of test batsman over the likes of haris sohail and a genuine all-rounder. Going forward Sarfaraz should ponder over his batting position and try open the batting or atleast come 1 down instead of facing the pressure when 5 wickets are down."

9.05pm Might is right. Colin de Grandhomme swears by that notion. That was some of the most brutal hitting you'll ever see. He walked in with the chips down and Pakistan scenting a victory. He's walking off having ensured his team has cantered to a five-wicket win. Don't forget Henry Nicholls' contribution. He was overshadowed by de Grandhomme's dominance, but he's played a match-winning knock as well. He struggled for fluency for large parts. When de Grandhomme walked in, another wicket at that stage could have truly put Pakistan on top. But Nicholls never gave up and ground it out. By the end of it all, he had made up for enough ground to notch up a half-century of his own. Disappointment again for Pakistan, but they have some positives they can take from this defeat. Not least a high-class display of legspin bowling from Shadab Khan. Their batsmen showed much better game awareness at least for the early parts of their innings and did not let Tim Southee's early strikes stagnate the scoreboard. But at the end of it all, they were probably a good 30-40 runs short.

"I felt like I'd been hitting well in the nets," de Grandhomme says. "Crucial for Henry to be there till the end. Everything seemed to be coming off the middle."

"Pakistan played very well. They soaked up some pressure with the bat early on and posted a comfortable score," says Kane Williamson. "We did not put up the smartest of batting performances until Colin came out. To see him play like that was special. We didn't think the surface took as much turn as we thought it would. A lot of credit goes to the top of the order as well. They got us off to a good start in the chase. And then Colin just came in and finished it off. We were under pressure for large parts of the batting innings, so feels nice to get across the line."

"Very disappointing but a few positives," says Sarfraz. "Fakhar batted well. But we're not finishing well. The way we finished (with the bat), we had lost of confidence, but de Grandhomme played like a great batsman. It was a great innings."

Sarah: "I'm telling myself I wont watch the last match but catch me sleep deprived and cursing on that day too. Cricket is truly like a drug"

zafarjaveds: "CDG played this innings in Highlights mode."

45.5
1
Hasan Ali to Nicholls, 1 run, short ball, pulled comfortably to deep midwicket for the winning run
45.4
4
Hasan Ali to Nicholls, FOUR, beautiful placement. And that's Nicholls' fifty What a vital knock from him. Sees width and plays late to punch through backward of point
45.3
1
Hasan Ali to de Grandhomme, 1 run, a more controlled pull shot down to deep fine leg
45.2
4
Hasan Ali to de Grandhomme, FOUR, short ball, sitting up nicely around off. Hammers a pull to the left of the square leg umpire. If you're a fielder in the deep, don't bother moving, however close to you the ball is. This is brutal hitting

Aashish Calla: "This knock by CDG can easily be put in the "brutal" category; walked in with 109 needed off 15 overs against a quality attack, and has done it at a canter!"

45.1
0
Hasan Ali to de Grandhomme, no run, short of a length, defended from the crease

END OF OVER:
45 | 15 Runs | NZ: 253/5 (10 runs required from 30 balls, RR: 5.62, RRR: 2.00)

  • Henry Nicholls47 (68b)
  • Colin de Grandhomme69 (37b)
  • Rumman Raees9-0-59-1
  • Hasan Ali8-0-50-0
44.6
2
Rumman Raees to Nicholls, 2 runs, short of a length on off, punched towards long-off who runs forward and nails a direct hit. The batsmen are well in and they take an extra run off the deflection. Even the good work they're doing is working against Pakistan now

Raj Pisharody: "I want to say "Mazaa aa gaya!... super knock by Grandhomme! Thank you Sir!"

New Zealand 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st88MJ GuptillC Munro
2nd1MJ GuptillKS Williamson
3rd1LRPL TaylorKS Williamson
4th9KS WilliamsonTWM Latham
5th55KS WilliamsonHM Nicholls
6th109C de GrandhommeHM Nicholls