New Zealand thrash Pakistan by 47 runs in first ODI

New Zealand paceman Trent Boult claimed a hat-trick to help lead his side to a 47-run win over Pakistan in the first one-day international in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Boult finished with 3 for 54 as Pakistan, set a testing target of 267, were bowled out for 219 as New Zealand took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Shadab finished with 4-38 — his third four-wicket haul — after Ross Taylor (80) and Tom Latham (68) had stitched together a 130-run partnership for the fourth wicket after New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat.

Paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi finished with 4-46.

The next two games will be in Abu Dhabi on Friday and in Dubai on Sunday.

Pakistan crushed New Zealand 3-0 in the preceding Twenty20 series on Sunday — their second whitewash in a week following a romp over Australia, also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

But Sarfraz, part of the team in the last 11 one-day internationals all of which Pakistan lost, wants to finally win against New Zealand.

“It´s important to break that losing streak and we need to bring improvement in our performance in one-day internationals,” said Sarfraz on Tuesday.

Pakistan lost the last two matches in a 3-2 series defeat in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2014, before losing 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016 and 5-0 in January 2018 — all in New Zealand.

“If you look at our losses most of them were in New Zealand where conditions were different and we lost due to top order failure where we need to improve,” said Sarfraz.

Playing XI
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Junaid Khan

New Zealand: George Worker, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult