Ross TaylorAfter riding to the top of the chart on Afridi's solo historics, it was evident that Pakistan's progress would hit a stumbling block unless they clicked as a unit against stronger opponents. But the kind of hammering the side was dished out by a resurgent New Zealand outfit took the cricketing world by surprise. Birthday boy Ross Taylor made the most of Pakistan's shoddy fielding and poor end-over bowling to give them a thrashing they won't forget for a very long time.
Ross TaylorTaylor shrugged off his poor run in grand style to lift New Zealand to what once seemed like an impossible total of 302. But when he first came out to bat he looked at his rustiest best and would have never made it through had Akmal held on to either of the sitters in 14th over. But he didn't and Taylor made Pakistan pay by unleasing hell in the last six overs which saw New Zealand score an astonishing 114 runs.
Ross TaylorAt the end of the 44th over, the Kiwis had managed just 188 at the loss of five wickets. At the crease were Taylor (67 in 102 balls) and new man Nathan McCullum, who kickstarted the assault by hitting Afridi for a massive six and Taylor followed suite by hitting anther big one on the last ball of the over. McCullum departed in the next over bowled by Gul but Taylor had no intention of stopping.
Ross TaylorAfridi's move to bring Akhtar back into the attack backfired to a catastrophic extent, as Taylor destroyed the Rawalpindi express with three sixes and 2 boundaries to bring up his century.
Ross Taylor