Glenn Phillips cracked a maiden century to lift New Zealand to 330-6 against Pakistan in the tri-series opener in Lahore on Saturday.
The match is taking place at the revamped Gaddafi Stadium, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last night in a dazzling ceremony with music performances.
Experienced New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson was ruled out of the match with a hamstring injury.
Phillips hit 106 not out from 74 balls, with seven sixes and six boundaries, after New Zealand won the toss and batted.
He was ably supported by Daryl Mitchell with 81 and Kane Williamson (58).
Phillips added a quickfire 54 off just 47 balls with Michael Bracewell for the sixth wicket. Bracewell scored 31 from 23 balls, with three sixes.
New Zealand plundered 123 runs in the last 10 overs, including 84 from the final five.
Phillips smashed a boundary and two sixes off pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi to reach his hundred off 72 balls, taking 25 in the 50th over.
Shaheen ended up with expensive figures of 3-88 from his 10 overs, although he gave Pakistan an early breakthrough by removing opener Will Young for four with the fourth ball of the match.
Spinner Abrar Ahmed had opener Rachin Ravindra caught and bowled for 25 but Williamson and Mitchell then added 95 off 112 balls to rebuild the innings.
Williamson hit seven boundaries in his 46th half-century, his first one-day international since November 2023, before edging Shaheen to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.
Mitchell appeared well set for a hundred but miscued a shot off Abrar in the 38th over to be caught after hitting four sixes and two boundaries.
Pakistan was hit hard when pace bowler Haris Rauf walked off in the 37th over after suffering a side strain, having bowled 6.2 overs that included the wicket of Tom Latham for nought.
South Africa is the third team in the event, seen as a warm-up for the eight-nation Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates from February 19.
Each team plays two matches before the top two compete in the final in Karachi on February 14.
While Pakistan have recently struggled at the T20 International and Test fronts, they have been a force to reckon with in the One-day International format — in which the tri-nation series and the Champions Trophy are to be played — winning three series on a trot towards the end of last year.
Pakistan’s squad for the tri-nation series and the following eight-team extravaganza, however, has raised questions, with the selections of all-rounders Faheem Ashraf and Khushdil Shah.
So much so that there have been speculations that Pakistan will make changes in the Champion Trophy squad by the Feb 12 deadline, the day they take on South Africa in their tri-nation series.
Mohammad Rizwan clarified during a press conference yesterday: “The squad that has been announced is in front of everyone, and there’s no such thing that we will make changes to it.”
“We have a match tomorrow, and we have three to four days, but it’s not necessary that we are unhappy with our team or that we need to think about changes.”
Teams
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Tayyab Tahir, Salman Agha, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (captain), Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Matt Henry, Ben Sears, Will O’Rourke
Umpires: Faisal Afridi (PAK) and Michael Gough (ENG)
TV Umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
