Napier, Mar 29: Left-hand batter Mark Chapman's century and right-arm seamer Nathan Smith's four-wicket haul stormed hosts New Zealand to victory over Pakistan in the first ODI of the three-match series at the McLean Park in Napier on Saturday.

Chapman (132 runs off 111 balls) was awarded the Player of the Match for his exceptional knock in the match. With this victory, the Blackcaps take a 1-0 lead in the series, with the second match to be played at Hamilton on Wednesday and the last match to be played on Saturday at Mount Maunganui.

Chasing a mammoth total of 345 runs, the visitors, Men in Green, started off well as the openers Abdullah Shafique (36 runs from 49 balls) and Usman Khan (39 runs in 33 balls) started off the innings on a positive note. Both players built a marvellous partnership of 83 runs before Usman was sent back to the pavilion in the 13th over of the second innings.

Babar Azam (78 runs off 83 balls) and Salman Agha (58 runs from 48 balls) scored crucial runs for their side, but those were not enough as the Mohammad Rizwan-led side was bowled out for 244 runs in the 45th over.

The pick of the bowlers for the Kiwis was Nathan Smith, who snapped four wickets in his spell of 8.1 overs, where he conceded 60 runs. Jacob Duffy grabbed two wickets in his nine overs, where he gave away 57 runs. One wicket each were bagged by William O'Rourke (1/38 in 10 overs), Michael Bracewell ()1/60 in 10 overs), and Muhammad Abbas (1/43 in 7 overs) in their respective spells.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan skipper Mohammed Rizwan won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Batting first, the Michael Bracewell-led side slammed a massive total of 344 runs with the loss of nine wickets in their 50 overs. Other than Chapman, Dary Mitchell (76 runs in 84 balls) and Muhammad Abbas (52 runs off 26 balls) scored important runs for their side.

For Pakistan, three wickets were taken by Irfan Khan (3/51 in 5 overs), two wickets each were grabbed by Haris Rauf (2/38 in 10 overs) and Akif Javed (2/55 in 10 overs), and one wicket each was bagged by Nassem Shah (1/60 in 10 overs) and Mohammad Ali (1/53 in 10 overs) in their respective spells.

Brief Score: New Zealand 344/9 in 50 overs (Mark Chapman 132, Daryl Mitchell 76, Irfan Khan 3/51) vs Pakistan 271 all out in 44.1 overs (Babar Azam 78, Salman Agha 58, Nathan Smith 4/60).

(ANI)

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