Batters click finally as Pakistan tame UAE

NAPIER, New Zealand: Things finally seem to be falling into place for Pakistan.
The former champions on Wednesday gave their World Cup campaign another shot-in-the-arm by beating United Arab Emirates by 129 runs here at the sparsely-crowded McLean Park.
Apart from Nasir Jamshed who failed again, Pakistan’s batting line-up was in top gear against a modest attack and on a flat wicket.
Opener Ahmed Shehzad capitalised on two dropped catches to top score with 93 off 105 balls while Haris Sohail also hit his maiden World Cup fifty (70 off 83 balls) to give Pakistan the start they were looking for.
Misbah-ul-Haq (65 off 49 balls) then posted his third fifty in four matches of the current World Cup while Sohaib Maqsood also found runs flowing from his bat before falling for 45 off 31 balls. Shahid Afridi then joined the party with a 7-ball 21 and in the process crossed the 8000-run milestone in One-day Internationals.
Pakistan, who have struggled to milk bowlers for runs in the death overs in their previous World Cup games, scored 143 from the final 12 overs.
The win propelled Pakistan from sixth to fourth place in Pool B, just behind third-placed West Indies. Pakistan could have catapulted themselves to third place behind India and South Africa but they were unable to show the sort of killer instinct needed to record a bigger win.
Now, the trio of Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland have four points each. West Indies are ahead with a net run-rate of -0.313, followed by Pakistan (-0.385) and Ireland (-1.137). But Ireland have three games left while the other two have two each.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for UAE who were eyeing an upset win against Pakistan. They managed to last the full 50 overs against an impressive Pakistan attack and saw the prolific Shaiman Anwar scoring a superb 62 off 88 balls that catapulted him to the pole position in the list of tournament top scorers with 270 runs from four outings. Khurram Khan chipped in

with 43 while Amjad Javed hit a 33-ball 40 to take UAE to a respectable total of 210-8. Apart from Afridi (2-35) Wahab Riaz and Sohail Khan returned with identical figures of 2-54.
Earlier, UAE elected to bowl after winning the toss hoping to exploit Pakistan’s weakness at the top of the order.
Pacer Manjula Guruge (4-56) scalped the out-of-form Jamshed early as the left-handed mistimed a pull to waste what is likely to be his last chance at this World Cup.
Jamshed’s early dismissal raised a big question mark over the judgment of the team management who have been persisting with the opener despite his repeated failures.
Jamshed hasn’t scored a fifty in his last 19 ODI innings. He has an average of 10 in his last ten. In his three World Cup innings his scores are 0,1 and 4.
While Jamshed flopped again, Ahmed was lucky enough to boost his World Cup form after three unimpressive outings. Together with Haris, Ahmed put on 160 runs for the second wickets bringing Pakistan in a perfect position for a late assault.
Ahmed was uneasy in the beginning as he was unable to hit anything with the middle of the bat. He was dropped off Guruge and Mohammad Naveed before finally finding his form.
After consuming 26 balls, he began to time the ball well and with Haris in full flow, Pakistan’s innings prospered.
Ahmed reached his first World Cup fifty off 68 balls while Haris achieved that feat off 66. Their 100-run partnership came off 21.1 overs. With Pakistan cruising at 148-1 in the 30th over the duo called for Powerplay. They took 19 off the first two overs before Haris fell to Naveed trying hit him over mid-on.
Shehzad lost his wicket as he failed to make his ground and was ran out by Anwar.
Misbah and Sohaib carried on from where the duo left putting on 75 runs for the fourth wicket. Sixes and fours came in quick succession as Pakistan accelerated their scoring pace.
Pakistan will fly for Auckland on Thursday (today) to meet South Africa in their next Pool B encounter on Saturday.
Score Board
UAE won toss
Pakistan
Nasir Jamshed c Khurram b Guruge 4
Ahmed Shehzad run out 93
Haris Sohail c Shaiman b Naveed 70
Sohaib Maqsood c Rohan b Guruge 45
*Misbah c Rohan b Guruge 65
†Umar Akmal c Amjad b Guruge 19
Shahid Afridi not out 21
Wahab Riaz not out 6
Extras (lb 3, w 12, nb 1) 16
Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 339
Did not bat: Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali, M Irfan
Fall: 1-10, 2-170, 3-176, 4-251, 5-312, 6-312
Bowling: Naveed 10-0-50-1 (1nb, 1w); Guruge 8-0-56-4 (2w); Amjad 9-0-76-0 (2w); Tauqir 10-0-52-0 (1w); Khurram 3-0-21-0; Chandran 8-0-58-0; Rohan 2-0-23-0 (2w)
UAE
Amjad Ali b Rahat 14
A R Berenger c Umar b Sohail 2
Krishna Chandran c Umar b Sohail 0
Khurram Khan c Wahab b Sohaib 43
Shaiman Anwar c Nasir b Shahid 62
†S P Patil b Wahab 36
Rohan Mustafa c Ahmed b Shahid 0
Amjad Javed c Sohail b Wahab 40
M Naveed not out 0
*M Tauqir not out 0
Extras (lb 1, w 12) 13
Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 210
Did not bat: A M Guruge
Fall: 1-19, 2-19, 3-25, 4-108, 5-140, 6-140, 7-208, 8-210
Bowling: Irfan 3-1-2-0; Sohail 9-2-54-2 (3w); Rahat 10-0-30-1 (2w); Wahab 10-1-54-2 (2w); Shahid 10-1-35-2 (3w); Sohaib 5-0-16-1 (1w); Haris 3-0-18-0
Result: Pakistan won by 129 runs
Points: Pakistan 2, UAE
Man of the Match: Ahmed Shehzad (Pakistan)
Umpires: J D Cloete (South Africa) and S Ravi (India). TV umpire: R K Illingworth (England). Match referee: B C Broad (England)