HAMILTON, Dec 20: Opener Tim Seifert carried his bat for 84 in an unbroken 129-run partnership with Kane Williamson to steer New Zealand to a nine-wicket win over Pakistan in the second Twenty20 international Sunday and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Williamson finished 57 not out in his return to the short format as New Zealand overtook Pakistan’s total of 163-6 with four balls to spare.
Seifert took his runs from only 63 balls with eight fours and three sixes, unleashing a wide variety of shots on a flat wicket against a Pakistan attack that struggled to find consistently challenging lengths.
Williamson was scratchy at first, then became unstoppable, reaching his 12th T20 international half century from 37 balls on the same ground where he scored a test-best 251 in his last innings.
Earlier, veteran Mohammad Hafeez was left unbeaten on 99, his highest score in 98 T20 internationals, as Pakistan again fell short of a challenging total.
Hafeez came to the last over 82 not out, hit three singles, a six and a four and was 93 not out with only one ball left in the innings. He did the best he could, hitting the final delivery for six to finish just short of a maiden century.
New Zealand was reinforced Sunday by the return of four members of its test squad, including Williamson, who missed the first match of the series.
Williamson also missed the second test against the West Indies due to the birth of his first child. Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kyle Jamieson also returned, giving New Zealand an all-new pace attack.
Pakistan captain Shadab Khan batted on winning the toss. The Pakistan top order batsmen were probably too eager and, in the face of Southee’s first spell in which he took 3-16 from three overs, slumped to 4-56.
From 4-56 Hafeez revived the innings in a 63-run fifth wicket partnership with Khushdil Shah (14).
Hafeez stayed and held together the innings, dominating the scoring and reaching his 14th T20 half century from 37 balls.
New Zealand’s innings was given a more solid start by openers Martin Guptill and Seifert who scored 35 in 3.3 overs before Guptill was caught from the bowling of Faheem.
After 10 overs New Zealand was 91-1 when Pakistan had been 65-4. New Zealand came to the last over needing five runs to win. Williamson hit a boundary to seal the win.(AP)
