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An emphatic win
Birthday boy Ross Taylor smashed a whirlwind unbeaten century to set up an emphatic 110-run win for New Zealand against Pakistan in their Group A match in Pallekele on Tuesday.
Taylor, who turned 27th, cracked a breath-taking 131 runs off 124 balls to take New Zealand to a challenging 302 for seven after surviving two chances early in his innings at Pallekele stadium.
Taylor hit eight fours and seven massive sixes in his innings and in the company of Jacob Oram piled up a mammoth 114 runs in the final six overs after skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat.
Southee, Mills tear into Pak line up
Fast bowlers Tim Southee and Kyle Mills then ran through the Pakistan batting lineup, reducing the Pakistan to 45 for five in 14.4 overs, before dismissing them for 192 with 8.2 overs to spare to reach top of the Group A table.
New Zealand will next play Canada and Sri Lanka in the last two league matches in Group A.
Off to a poor start
Chasing 303 to win, Pakistan had a disastrous start when Southee trapped Mohammad Hafeez (5) in front of wicket in the second over. Mills then repeated the treatment to Ahmed Shehzad (10) as Pakistan slipped to 23-2 in 6.1 overs.
Mills soon sent Younis Khan's (0) offstump for a walk, while Southee induced an edge off Kamran Akmal (8) to further break their back. After few overs, Misbah-ul-Haq (7) became a victim of Southee as Pakistan were looking down the barrel at 45-5 in the 15th over.
Skipper Shahid Afridi (17) then wielded his willow for a couple of fours and a six before falling prey to Jacob Oram in the 18th over.
Umar Akmal then hit a 58-ball 38 with the help of three fours and added 36 runs with Abdul Razzaq before holing out to Oram at deep midwicket off Nathan McCullum.
Razzaq held the fort for sometime
Razzaq fought hard for his 74-ball 62 and became only the fourth all-rounder in world cricket to score 5000 runs, besides taking 250 runs in one-day Internationals.
He and Umar Gul (34 not out) provided some late entertainment, adding 66 runs off 51 balls for the ninth wicket but it was too little too late in the end.
Vettori injured
New Zealand skipper and spin bowler Daniel Vettori was treated for a right knee injury picked up during the match.
"He has got a right knee injury while attempting a catch and at the moment he is being treated with ice," said New Zealand team media manager Ellery Tappin during the game.
"His injury is being assessed and at the moment we can't comment any further," he said.
Drop catches cost Pak dear
Earlier, Taylor made Pakistan pay heavily for dropping him on zero. Adopting a cautious approach in the beginning, Taylor, who survived two chances, exploded in the final stages of the innings and remained unbeaten on 131 runs that came off just 124 balls.
Utilising most of the opportunity, he showed scant respect to the Pakistani bowlers and struck as many as eight fours and seven sixes during his fiery innings.
Nathan McCullum (19 off 10) and Jacob Oram (25 off 9) scored briskly and gave perfect support to Taylor towards the end, while Martin Guptill came up with a gritty 86-ball 57 upfront to lay the foundation for the score.
Umar Gul was the pick of Pak bowlers
Umar Gul was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers with figures of three for 32 but the trio of Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq and Abdur Rehman were taken for special treatment by the Kiwi batters in the final overs.
Inspite of the impressive scorecard, it was not a rosy start for New Zealand after opting to bat as they lost Brendon McCullum early bowled by Shoaib Akhtar in the fourth delivery of the innings.
Guptill, on the other hand, looked solid and scored bulk of the runs in the initial overs even as Jamie How struggled.
How's misery finally ended when Umar Gul had him leg-before-wicket in the 13th over with a delivery that hurried onto the stumps.
After the initial hesitation, Guptill looked at ease and did not allow the runs to dry up hitting as many as six boundaries to notch up his fifty in 71 balls.
Fourth batsmen to get ton on birthday
New Zealand vice-captain Ross Taylor, who became only the fourth batsman to hit a ton on his birthday, lived dangerously from the onset and survived two chances off Akhtar in the 14 over -- on both occasion a wicketkeeper Kamran was the guilty.
Guptill and Taylor then played sensibly without taking too many risks to form a 57-run stand for the third wicket.
It took the highest wicket-taker of the tournament and Pakistan's inspirational skipper Shahid Afridi to break the dangerous-looking partnership when he bowled Guptill.
A ball later new man in James Franklin also departed, trapped right in front of the stumps to Mohammad Hafeez but not before the left-hander went for an unsuccessful review.
It could have been further damage for the Kiwis in the next over if not for another blunder from Kamran. The Pakistani stumper dropped Scot Styris (28) off Afridi.
Given a life early on in their innings, both Taylor and Styris added insult to Pakistan's injury by stitching 62 runs for the fifth wicket to set the platform for the big score.