Williamson, Southee hold off Pakistan in rain-affected ODI

Wellington: New Zealand rode on skipper Kane Williamson’s 10th ODI century and a fiery spell from pace spearhead Tim Southee (3/22) to thrash Pakistan by 61 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in the opener of the five-match One-day International series at Basin Reserve here on Saturday.

Put in to bat, the hosts were off to a flyer with Martin Guptill (48 off 72 balls; 4x4, 6x2) and Colin Munro (58 off 35; 4x6, 6x2) getting a 83-run opening stand before Williamson (115 off 117; 4x8, 6x1) joined the party.

More than the loss, Pakistan will rue the dropped chance of Williamson, who got a reprieve on 26 by his counterpart, Sarfraz Ahmad as the hosts went on to post 315/7.

In reply, Southee then had two of the Pakistan batsmen back in the dressing room in five balls, in an excellent spell of swing bowling.

Pakistan were reduced to 13/3, and then 37/4; from that point, it was always unlikely that they would threaten.

Young opener Fakhar Zaman fought, and was unbeaten on an 86-ball 82, having taken his side to 166/6 in 30.1 overs when the umpires finally called off play due to rain.