Pakistan Innings
New Zealand defeated Pakistan by a nerve wrecking margin of 1 run! What a thrilling match it was going right till the last ball with both sides in with a chance along with the Super Over threat. Two runs were needed from the final ball and left hander Abdul Rehman flicked one in the air to the fielder at deep squareleg who accepted the catch gleefully! The guy who was winning the match for Pakistan - Salman Butt was stranded helplessly at the non-striker's end on a well made 67 from 54 balls (with 8 fours and a six).
New Zealand's fielding was the difference especially the last catch off the final ball, nothing special but a very important one. And Pakistan, the defending champions with two defeats in the Super Eights have crashed out of the Tournament!! They were actually in trouble at 58 for 5 in the 10th over when they lost their Skipper Shahid Afridi. New Zealand didn't get to do the finishing job and were stuck through the partnership between Salman Butt and Abdul Razzaq (29 from 29 balls which had three sixes). Razzaq fell in the 18th over caught by a cool Taylor at long on and that was the turning point for New Zealand who had put on just the 133 on the board.
New Zealand Innings
New Zealand struggled to reach 133 for 7 with none of the batsmen able to get going. It was left to Skipper Daniel Vettori to bring some sort of respectability through his 34-ball 38. It was a very dull show from the Kiwis once they slipped to 58 for 4 in the 10th over losing all their glamourous strikers of the ball. Brendon McCullum with a 29-ball 33 and Scott Styris with a 17-ball 21 were the other contributors.
Pakistan for a change hang onto the catches offered by the batsmen and that in turn sustained a lot of pressure. All the four spinners used by Pakistan bowled well especially left armer Abdur Rehman who picked up 2 for 19 in three overs.
Toss and Teams
Pakistan won the toss and elected to field against New Zealand in the Super Eights Match at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. They have made two changes to their line up by bringing in Mohammad Sami and Abdur Rehman for Mohammad Asif and Fawad Alam. The Kiwis on the other hand have brought in Ian Butler and Kyle Mills for the first time in the tournament replacing Jacob Oram and Tim Southee.
New Zealand : Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins (WK), Ian Butler, Daniel Vettori (C), Nathan McCullum, Shane Bond and Kyle Mills
Pakistan : Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (WK), Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (C), Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Sami
