James Neesham registered his maiden five-fer in T20Is © Getty New Zealand ended the T20I series with a crushing eight-wicket win over Pakistan in Wellington, courtesy of cracking performances from Tim Seifert (97* off 38) and Jimmy Neesham (5-22). Opting to bowl on a lively Sky Stadium surface, New Zealand’s bowlers made full use of seam-friendly conditions upfront and strangled Pakistan throughout with Neesham doing the most damage. Pakistan hobbled their way to 128, a well below-par total that was made to look much smaller as Seifert blasted his side home with ten overs to spare. With the way the women’s game between New Zealand and Australia panned out earlier in the day, it seemed like Wellington had a fine batting surface for the men’s game. However, with the lights taking effect, there was extravagant seam movement with the new ball, and along with the variable bounce early on, made batting extremely difficult. Pakistan’s inexperienced batting unit had no answer as Jacob Duffy struck twice in a probing new-ball spell. Ben Sears also snapped a wicket early on as Pakistan managed just 27 in their PowerPlay, losing three wickets in the process. The spicy nature of the surface proved too hot to handle for the visitors as they kept losing wickets. Skipper Agha Salman (51 off 39) and Shadab Khan (28 off 20) briefly revived things with a 54-run stand. The pitch started to ease a wee bit and it seemed like Pakistan could aim for 150 or thereabouts. Unfortunately, Neesham broke the stand with a slower ball that got him the first of his wickets. He then chipped away at the tail and also had Salman who fell after a fighting fifty. While the new ball period was tough to bat on, Pakistan certainly ended with a score that was at least 40 runs short of a par score. Seifert ensured that New Zealand made short work of the chase as he hammered the bowling to all parts. There were ten sixes hit by the opener, who put on a 93-run first-wicket stand with Finn Allen (27 off 12). The latter was also going at a quick pace, but it was a partnership dominated completely by Seifert. New Zealand blasted their way to 92/0 in the first six overs, the highest powerplay total ever for New Zealand. It was also the highest score in the first six overs of any T20I played in New Zealand. Allen and Mark Chapman both fell to the guile of Sufyan Muqeem, but those wickets came after the game was all but over. Seifert was keen to finish the game at the earliest, and he belted 26 off the tenth over bowled by Shadab Khan, including three sixes in a row to end the game with half the overs left. The result meant a resounding 4-1 series win for New Zealand, who were barely tested except in the second T20I where Hasan Nawaz’s brilliance gave Pakistan their lone win of the series. Brief scores: Pakistan 128/9 in 20 overs (Salman Ali Agha 51; Jimmy Neesham 5-22) lost to New Zealand 131/2 in 10 overs (Tim Seifert 97*; Sufyan Muqeem 2-6) by eight wickets.
