New Zealand completed just its second clean sweep of a five-match one-day international series Friday when it beat Pakistan by 15 runs at the Basin Reserve on Friday.
Martin Guptill made a superb hundred and Ross Taylor chipped in with a half-century as New Zealand made 271 for seven from its 50 overs. In reply, Pakistan was bowled out for 256 after Haris Sohail and Shadab Khan both made 50s to give the tourists a real chance of winning. Matt Henry was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, taking 4-53.
The only previous time New Zealand swept a five game ODI series was against the West Indies in 2000 but after easily winning the first four matches, the Black Caps had to battle hard to repeat the feat after a lower order batting collapse left the home side defending a total which Pakistan very nearly reached.
“It was a tough game today and Pakistan operated really well on that surface,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said. “Credit to the way our boys stuck at it throughout the series. There was a lot of cricket in a short period of time and the guys backed it up really nicely on the different surfaces and played some smart cricket.
“I think the pitches have been slightly tough, on the slower side and credit to the way Pakistan bowled. They were really accurate in their areas and made scoring quite tough to come by at times.”
Guptill, who scored 310 runs in the series, was named man of the match and player of the series.
The New Zealand innings revolved around Guptill who faced the first ball of the match and batted until the 42nd over. He put on 52 for the first wicket with Colin Munro (34) and 49 for the second with Williamson (22) before joining Taylor in a decisive 112-run partnership that spanned 24 overs.
New Zealand looked to be cruising along at 213-2 but suddenly lost five wickets for just 31 runs before Colin de Grandhomme propped up the tail with an unbeaten 29.
After being hit for boundaries on each of his first two deliveries, Rumman Raees bounced back to finish with 3-67 for Pakistan, including the crucial wickets of Guptill and Munro.
Pakistan slumped to 31-3 before Sohail (63) and Shadab (54) rebuilt the innings with a 105-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Both fell to New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (3-40) but Pakistan’s lower order continued to push hard for a consolation victory.
Faheem Ashraf (23), Mohammad Nawaz (23) and Aamer Yamin (32 not out) gave the tourists hope of winning as they got to the last two overs needing 23 from 12 balls to win with only one wicket standing.
