BATES HALF-CENTURY SALVAGES FACESAVING T20 WIN FOR WHITE FERNS OVER PAKISTAN
Stalwart opener Suzie Bates - and some helpfully inclement weather - have helped the White Ferns avoid an embarrassing Twenty20 series whitewash against Pakistan on home soil.
After falling to the tourists for the first time in the shortest format and then again two days later, both at Dunedin, the NZ women had already conceded the three-game series and were playing for pride.
The second of those defeats came on Bates' home track, renamed after her to honour her recently achieved 300th international appearance in South Africa. She managed just 18 with the bat and owed her opponents some payback for pooping on her party.
Moving to Queenstown, New Zealand won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first, restricting them to 137/6 in their 20 overs.
Openers Muneeba Ali and Sidra Ameen put on 64 at better than a run a ball for the first wicket, but Muneeba and Sadaf Shamas fell in consecutive overs for the addition of just one run.
Nida Dar (25 off 20) and Fatima Sana (17 off 13) produced useful cameo contributions, while spinners Amelia Kerr (3/11) and Fran Jonas (2/20) did the damage for the Ferns.
The Kiwis had one eye on the weather, as they chased the target, but once Bernadine Bezuidenhout fell in the fifth over, Bates and Kerr accumulated 63 runs for the second wicket to keep them ahead of the asking rate under Duckworth Lewis Stern.
Fourteen runs in the 13th over, including a pair of boundaries from Kerr, proved crucial to the outcome and even Kerr's departure, bowled by Nashra Sandhu in the next over, could not deny the hosts their small compensation.
When the rain finally drove players and umpires off the field, Bates had reached 51 off 42 balls, including five fours, and New Zealand were 101/2, six runs ahead of calculations.
Both teams remain in Queenstown for the opening fixture of their three-match one-day series, beginning Tuesday.
Pakistan 137/5 (Ameen 43, Aliya 27; Kerr 3/11) New Zealand 101/2 (Bates 51no, Kerr 35; Iqbal 1/15, Sandhu 1/19)
NZ win by six runs under DLS, Pakistan win series 2-1
2023-12-09T04:44:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd