Tim Southee picked up 4 for 21 more in a very fun game
New Zealand 164 for 1 (Seifert 84 *, Williamson 57 *) beat Pakistan 163 for 6 (Hafeez 99 *, Southee 4-21) with nine wikis
This game was all about two fake innings. Mohammad Hafeez bathed as if in a dream. Everything hit the middle of his stick but nonetheless reality would come in handy when he was on strike, making sure the rest of his players struggling.
It was still a big effort to keep his head up and run a score of 99 (no losses) out of a total of 163 even from a bat that has been impressive in T20 cricket over the year past.
The only reason innings didn’t turn out to be winning games is because Tim Seifert did an equally strong masterpiece. He was not always indifferent to running the ball, but found a way to be ahead of Pakistan archers thanks to his ability to move around in the shower and get to all parts of the ground . His unbeaten 84 – to follow fifty in the first game – is a big reason New Zealand have won this series 2-0.
The backup
Pakistan captain Shadab Khan challenged down his best bats at the throw. “Win the powerplay”. And they went out with good intentions to do so. Fully focused on power, they started swimming at all, which came back because, well, the ball started swimming too.
Tim Southee picked up three wickets in his first spell, including an elegant player caught by Mohammad Rizwan behind him, leaving Pakistan at 33 for 3 after six goals. He is now among the top five bowlers in T20I cricket.
Class activity
Hafeez doesn’t rely on such great power. It’s time. And that’s why he was always a step ahead of his teammates.
He realized the pitch – which in his words offered a spongy kick – would not allow for a massive stroke. Not until he got used to it. So he spent the first part of his innings focusing on using New Zealand quicks speed and building a singles square of the wicket.
Then, once he was in the belt, he spread all sightings. There was an upright square driver in the eighth above which should replace the definition in the dictionary.
A new willingness to look for the boundaries in the middle of T20 games, even though he had to hit over the top, ensured that Hafeez could take control of Pakistan innings that were not going to take place any. Mainly because, while smoking it at a strike rate of 173, only one of the others in the top seven scored at ball run. (This calculation only applies to people who were able to last at least five deliveries)
Hafeez got a life of 45 with Devon Conway who simply grabbed the square foot finish, but earned more than that fortune, finishing 99 not out with six off the last ball of the -innich. It contributed 60.7% of the total. It was the largest one-man show in Pakistan’s T20I history.
An trickster
Seifert is beginning to understand his talent. Before that, there were signs that he was just upset with it. A man with all the looks in the book – and so cleverly designing a few of his own – used to be deceived by his own myth.
Now, however, he has realized that he also needs to tick a few boxes like every other bat in the world does to be successful. Even in Hamilton, he started by going hard at the ball, and as a result, he was playing and missing. But then Pakistan went short on it. That’s his wheelhouse and with a flower of sleds and cuttings he became unstable.
Wahab Riaz understood that in his first instance. As a result of his attempts to kick Seifert out a leg of six came over a square. The stick knew the next ball would be full, so he waited with his front leg cleared. The ball disappeared over the boundary again. Later in the same over, Seifert thought the fast-paced football would go back to a ball that was tried in the off-stump aisle, so he moved over his crease and it almost cracked for another six.
While Seifert predicted what Pakistan was trying to do and lifted them easily, Williamson, at the other end, had time to settle into his machines and went on a trip to the half century itself. Hamilton greeted their captain back with whoops and cheers and they went completely insane as he started playing his shots, a high cut for six against Haris Rauf picking the lottery. Their participation of 129 was more than enough to kill the game.
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo