Daily Times

NAPIER – Second one-day international (ODI) between Pakistan and New Zealand on Thursday delayed due to rain in Napier.

The toss and start of the second one-day international (ODI) between Pakistan and New Zealand in Napier delayed due to rain. The match has been affected by the drizzle as the forecast stated that the rain would continue for several hours.

The umpires inspected the conditions in Napier at 07:30, where the outfield looks quite wet. Joking about the occasion, New Zealand Captain Kane Williamson remarked that the reason behind the rain was it only rained when they scheduled a cricket match.

Humoring on the delay, the Kiwi’s Captain said that he lived in Napier and is convinced that the match was the cause of the rain. Pakistan are one down in the three-match ODI series after losing the opening match against hosts by 70 runs at Basin Reserve in Wellington on Monday.

Sources said that the rain continued until 11:15am, the match would be postponed. However, cricket laws allow shrinking the ODIs to twenty overs each if need be. The teams returned to their hotels until next announcement.

A solid 82 by Henry Nicholls followed by a ninth-wicket batting blitz carried New Zealand to a convincing 70-run victory in the opening one-day international. In reply to New Zealand’s 280-8, Pakistan skittled out for 210 with four overs remaining.

Nicholls apart, New Zealand’s recognised run-makers struggled against a fired-up Pakistan attack, with the other six batsmen in the top seven contributing just 47 in total. Sarfraz Ahmed (30) and Anwar Ali (16) put on 35 for the seventh wicket but their partnership ended when they tried to lift the scoring.