By RICHARD BOOCK
It was much the same story from Napier yesterday. A hard-nosed team of professionals handing out a frightful hiding to a struggling group of amateurs - only this time the names had changed, or at had at least changed around.
Only a couple of days after being crushed by Pakistan's star-studded pace battery, the New Zealanders have managed one of the biggest transformations since Mrs Jekyll enrolled her son in chemistry classes, securing a comfortable six-wicket win in the second one-day international at McLean Park.
The series-levelling result was achieved after New Zealand bowled the tourists out for a mere 135 - the lowest total in their one-day international history - and then took 30.2 overs to grind out the runs.
It was a particular triumph for several individual players - not least paceman Daryl Tuffey, who ended with career-best figures of 4-24.
The astonishing turnaround included Chris Harris' most economical spell in ODIs and his 159th wicket, carrying him above Sir Richard Hadlee as New Zealand's most successful limited overs' bowler, and also a masterly captain's performance from the often-maligned Stephen Fleming.
In front of a 7000-strong crowd, New Zealand took a stranglehold on the game after prospering from some good fortune early on, and managed to retain the initiative.
Tuffey took a wicket with his first ball of the match when he bowled Saeed Anwar and with the last ball of the innings when he went through Shoaib Akhtar. In between he accounted for Imran Farhat and Moin Khan.
It was a welcome return to form for the Northern Districts paceman, who struggled through the tour of Africa before being reselected in the recent series against Sri Lanka.
As hard as Pakistan tried, they could not break the home side's grip on the game, losing wickets regularly to demanding bowling and some unfathomable batsmanship
Wasim Akram was caught in the deep after attempting to hit Daniel Vettori for a second consecutive six and Abdul Razzaq - after anchoring the innings with 50 off 113 balls - tried to pull the same stunt off the bowling of Chris Martin, only to be caught by a tumbling Harris.
Not only did the New Zealand bowlers appear to bowl a better line and length, they also worked much more effectively as a combination.
On a slow pitch and in humid conditions, Harris was at his miserly best, recording New Zealand's fourth-most economical figures in an ODI, and snaring the wicket of Shahid Afridi.
But one of the most notable features of their effort was Fleming's excellent decision-making. He rotated his bowlers with masterly timing and never allowed the opposition batsmen to become settled.
New Zealand's search for a winning total received an early blow when Adam Parore was caught behind off the third ball of the innings, and was in further disrepair when Nathan Astle and Roger Twose fell in the 10th and 13th overs.
But Fleming, greeted by two no-balled bouncers from Shoaib Akhtar (presumably because the speedster felt he had refuelled the throwing controversy), edged his side towards the win, and Craig McMillan and Lou Vincent did the rest.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Sport
Team NZ and the question looming over final stretch of AmCup
Team New Zealand are one of three America's Cup teams to have launched their new AC75.