New Zealand vs Pakistan, 3rd ODI - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Pakistan tour of New Zealand, 2018 Venue: University Oval, Dunedin Date & Time: Jan 13, 11:00 AM LOCAL

New Zealand clinched the series with a massive win. © Getty

That's it from us folks! Hope you enjoyed the coverage. Pakistan certainly didn't have the best of days. Lost the ODI and the Under-19 team lost the World Cup opener as well to Afghanistan. Until next time then ...

Here's what the players had to say:

Williamson: Fantastic performance all-round. It was a tough surface to get in on and gain momentum. Good surface but was difficult to score. Trent was outstanding. Both new ball bowlers. They just didn't bowl bad balls. Don't think the pitch changed too much. If you bowled on a length, it was difficult to score. Halfway break we knew, still 250 on the board, we knew it was going to be tough. Taylor and Martin were outstanding coming in, able to generate a strike rate on a tough surface. They were better at working the ball around, lot better than I was. Focus is to win each game. Guys were smart today. Have to be smart again in Hamilton.

Sarfraz Ahmed: Very disappointing. Our bowlers bowled well. But our batting flopped again. We will sit together again before Hamilton and try to sort it out. Our problems have come against the new ball. Will look not to give too many wickets away in first 10 overs.

Boult, Man of the Match: Nice to get a couple early on. Pretty windy out there. The wind was right behind me. I let it go as aggressively as I could. Big game for us, wanted to get the series done. We knew we had to fight hard with 250 on the board.

@TheRealPCB

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Hello and welcome to the live blog of the third ODI between New Zealand and Pakistan. New Zealand would look for an improved show with the ball in the death overs while Pakistan need a clinical show to keep the series alive.

The series got off to a rainy start but Pakistan's top-order stutter meant New Zealand had the game in their bag before the showers washed away any hopes visitors harboured of a late comeback. Pakistan were reduced to 54 for 5 and later 132 for 6, in a chase of 316, when rain arrived in Wellington and they were found way short on the DLS par score. In Nelson, however, a similar top-order slide was arrested by a stunning counter-attack from Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, who picked up the pieces together and posted a fighting 246 on the board. The bowlers too made a promising start to their defence but with rain, and DLS, coming into the equation, Martin Guptill switched gears and sent the bowlers on a leather hunt to make it two in two for the hosts with more than an over to spare.

Pakistan's batting woes are largely due to a brittle top-order, coupled with the fact that opener Fakhar Zaman had to sit out in Nelson due a contusion on his right leg. While Mohammad Hafeez hit a confidence-boosting half-century, nearly all other were guilty of gifting their wickets away, giving the New Zealand bowlers control until the Hasan-Shadab partnership. The series could slip out of their hands if the rest of the batting doesn't support the in-form Zaman and the experienced pair of Hafeez and Shoaib Malik in posting/chasing challenging targets.