da betobet： Andrew McGlashan presents the Plays of the day from New Zealand v Pakistan
da pinnacle： Andrew McGlashan22-Sep-2007
Ross Taylor excelled with the bat but was involved in three run-outs as New Zealand could only manage 143 © Getty Images
From gentle touch to brute force
It took New Zealand 17 balls to find their first boundary, but when itcame, it was a delightful clip through midwicket by Brendon McCullumoff Mohammad Asif. McCullum used the pace of the bowler and barelyleaned on the ball sending it racing to the boundary. While McCullumshowed that grace can still work in Twenty20, Lou Vincent thenreverted to the more common theme – sheer power. Sohail Tanvir droppedthe ball fractionally short and Vincent latched onto a pull, launchingthe ball in the now familiar direction of deep square-leg, over thestand and out of the ground.Fulton flops
Peter Fulton was brought back for this match, but it didn’t appear thewisest decision as he limped to 10 off 15 balls. It hasn’t been thehappiest tournament for Fulton, 77 runs at a strike-rate just above arun-a-ball after he’d been touted as a part of New Zealand’s top-orderpower. His fall summed things up: a full toss from Umar Gul was steered straight to extra cover.Late arrival
The Twenty20 party is almost at an end, but it is still attractingsome late guests. Fawad Alam was handed his first game of thetournament as a replacement for Salman Butt and took the chance. Withhis fifth ball he clung onto a sharp caught-and-bowled chance toremove Vincent, although even the bowler seemed surprised at the endresult. His second scalp was the key one: Craig McMillan, who has beenNew Zealand’s leading batsman. Two balls after he was dispatched for a six,Alam had his revenge when an attempted repeat found long-off.Gul’s menace
Gul proved Pakistan’s trump card after once again being held back forthe second half of the innings. New Zealand were building a platformto allow their middle-order to make the charge, but Gul snuffed outtheir hopes. He removed Fulton, Scott Styris and Jacob Oram andconceded only one boundary in his four overs – an edge tothird man – at a time when the ball is meant to be flying everywhere. But, as OsmanSamiuddin said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Gul has impressedin Twenty20.Kiwi lapses
With early wickets the order of the day, New Zealand had their chancebut let it slip. Imran Nazir flashed at Mark Gillespie’s second ballonly for McCullum to pull out of the catch and leave it for ScottStyris at slip. Styris barely moved a muscle and the ball raced to theboundary. By the end of the over, Nazir had added two more boundariesand the momentum was with Pakistan. Another shocker was to follow andNazir was again the beneficiary when he lofted Jacob Oram to long-ononly to for Ross Taylor to drop a dolly. That was the moment NewZealand heads also dropped.Out, but staying in
Nazir called for a runner at the end of the first over and, becausePakistan hadn’t lost a wicket, someone from the middle had to do thejob and so Shoaib Malik, the captain, took it upon himself. This resultedin an usual sight when Mohammad Hafeez was dismissed by Scott Styris,as Malik made his way off while Hafeez stayed in the middle and tookover the running duties.Taking out a team-mate
Keep your eyes on the ball – it’s a basic all cricketers are told from ayoung age, but not normally to prevent injury from a team-mate. JeetanPatel collected the ball at long-off and hurled a powerful throw backtowards the stumps, only for Vincent’s head to get in the way. He wentdown like he’d been shot, to the immediate worry of everyone near him.Thankfully, after taking a few minutes to recover he was back on his feet,but probably wished he’d had one of the hard hats handed out to the crowd.
