Seifert and Williamson star in New Zealand against Pakistan

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A stunning 99 * from Mohammad Hafeez was not enough to help Pakistan save the game as New Zealand produced a strong overall performance to seal the series in Game 2 at Seddon Park. Chasing 164 for a win, New Zealand were motivated by the Century Partnership between Seifert and Williamson for the second wicket.

Seifert started off with a lightning practice off Shaheen Shah Afridi in the first, wearing his form from the first T20I into the match. Martin Guptill looked healthy for his 21 before pulling a bad draw to give the deep defender a grip.

Williamson had a nervous advantage to start his comeback, and the duo played it safe until the end of the power play with just 46 points from the first six overs. It seemed like a signal for Seifert to open up and he did so with aplomb, collecting three sixes in the first after Powerplay. Wahab Riaz was the target of exceptional strikes.

Seifert finished his second half century trotting in the 10th with New Zealand already scoring at a rate of nine points over it. Williamson also started off from a modest start, hitting Rauf for two consecutive fours and six balls in the 13th. It finished its half-century soon after and the chase seemed to be on track, although the visitors managed to drag it to the final.

Previously, Pakistan won the draw and chose to beat for the second time in as many games. New Zealand took Williamson, Boult and Southee back to the ranks while Jacob Duffy, who won Player of the Match in the last game, missed the match. The hosts started off well with the ball again. Southee was the chief destroyer as he dismissed Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique in the same manner.

Mohammad Rizwan, who had started with two or three fours in Boult’s opening, found the fence several times but couldn’t continue as Southee trapped his third. The returning Kiwi boost had Rizwan behind with a formidable eccentric who walked away late.

Hafeez picked up the pace with two fours each from Kyle Jamieson and Scott Kuggeleijn in their respective overs immediately after the power play. He lost Shadab Khan at the other end, but Hafeez continued undisturbed.

He was helped along the way by a few lost holds. On 47, Devon Conway landed a deep back square-leg keeper when his Kuggeleijn draw went straight to the defender. Conway recovered quickly to shoot in a pitch that forced Hafeez to dive, but he had safely pulled it off and quickly completed half a century, his fourth of the year.

Seifert and Southee – the second a tough comeback – also let Hafeez get away with it. He made them count with a brutal attack in the last overs. From 59 of 39 after the 15th over, Hafeez ran to 99 * on 57 balls, scoring 40 of his last 18 balls, including 18 in Jamieson’s final.

163 seemed a reasonably good total for the visitors, but Seddon Park had never seen a team defend less than 185 points in a T20I game before and New Zealand kept the record intact with an incredible chase.