Five-star Boult helps New Zealand take series

A withering spell by Trent Boult saw New Zealand beat Pakistan by 183runs in the third one-day international in Dunedin yesterday tocomfortably wrap up the series in Dunedin.New Zealand have won all three matches so far and captain Kane Williamson said the target is a clean sweep of all five ODIs.Boult rocked Pakistan’s batting line-up with three wickets in five ballsto take out the cream of their top order on his way to figures of fivefor 17.After New Zealand made 257 batting first,boosted by 11 in the final overbefore Boult was dismissed on the last ball, Pakistan were all out for74 in the 28th.“It was a big game for us. We wanted to get the series done,” said man of the match Boult. “To score only 250 on the board we knew we had to fight hard and to come out like that was very satisfying.”Williamson said the target now was to remain unbeaten.“That’s the focus. The focus is trying to win each game. The guys weresmart today and that’s something we pride ourselves on,” he said.“It was a fantastic performance all round. Trent was outstanding getting five.Pakistan had slumped to eight for 32 in the 19th over and threatened twounwanted records — the lowest ODI score of 35, held by Zimbabwe, andPakistan’s own lowest score of 43.Sarfraz Ahmed (14 not out), Mohamed Amir (14) and Rumman Raees (16)added 42 for the last two wickets but Sarfraz saw serious problems withthe top order batting.“It was very disappointing, a tough loss,” he said. “Our bowlers bowledvery well but the problems continue with the batting which againflopped. The problem is (facing) the new ball.”Boult removed Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman and Mohamed Hafeez in the space offive balls to put Pakistan in a hole they were never going to get outof.After 10 overs, the tourists were three down for just nine runs andwhile they struggled to stay afloat, Babar Azam was unnecessarily runout.Part-time bowler Colin Munro, with career figures of one for 203 beforethis match bowled Shadab Khan without scoring and had Hasan Alispectacularly caught by Williamson for one to return figures of two for10 off seven overs.Pakistan came to New Zealand on a nine-match winning streak and thepromise of providing a more formidable opposition for New Zealand whohad just swept a series against the West Indies.After losing the first two matches they needed to win in Dunedin and hadtheir tails up when Munro went for eight in the second over.But half-centuries to Kane Williamson (73) and Ross Taylor (52) plus 45 for Martin Guptill set New Zealand up. It was Taylor 57th ODI half-century to equal the New Zealand record held by Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle.But his dismissal sparked a Pakistan revival in the field in which they took seven for 48 in the last eight overs.