WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Martin Guptill scored a hundred and Ross Taylor made a half century to lift New Zealand to 271 for seven in the fifth one-day international against Pakistan on Friday.
Guptill posted his 13th ODI century from 125 balls but was out one ball later for exactly 100 while Taylor completed his 41st half century before falling in the 45th over for 59.
The New Zealand innings revolved around Guptill, who faced the first ball of the match and batted until the 42nd over. He put on 52 for the first wicket with Colin Munro (34) and 49 for the second with Kane Williamson (22) before joining Taylor in a 112-run third wicket partnership that spanned 24 overs.
New Zealand made an explosive beginning as Munro hit seven fours. Munro and Guptill took 43 runs from the first five overs and New Zealand's first 50 runs came from just 34 balls.
A massive total seemed possible on a good pitch at the Basin Reserve but when Munro was out, caught in the deep by Mohammad Hafeez from the bowling of Rumman Raees, the run rate dropped abruptly. Guptill was dismissed in exactly the same manner.
Williamson wasn't able to score with any freedom as Pakistan produced its best bowling and fielding performance of the series, which New Zealand leads 4-0.
After laboring for 52 minutes to reach 22 from 36 balls with no boundaries, the New Zealand captain hit out in frustration and was caught by newcomer Umar Amin from the bowling of Aamer Yamin.
The Pakistan bowlers, particularly the spinners Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz were able to tightly constrain New Zealand's scoring through the middle of the innings and it took a long time for Guptill and Taylor to reassert their authority. They managed to add only 14 runs between the 20th and 25th overs and 23 runs between the 25th and 30th.
Leg spinner Khan bowled his 10 overs for 35 runs while Nawaz's 10 over spell cost only 43 runs.
After being hit by Munro for two fours from his first two deliveries and for 20 runs from his first two overs, Rumman Raees took 3-67, including the wickets of Guptill and Munro. Yamin, who was also on the end of some harsh treatment from Munro, also came back well, dismissing Williamson and finishing with 1-65. Faheem Ashraf bowled tidily at the death and took 2-49.
Guptill's dismissal triggered the collapse of New Zealand's middle order. The next four wickets fell for 31 runs, including three in the space of five runs and nine balls after Taylor was out.
Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee revived the innings a little with an unbroken stand of 27 from 19 balls for the seventh wicket. De Grandhomme finished with 29 from 21 deliveries and Southee was not out on 14 from 11 balls.
