DUBAI: Will Young and Mark Chapman’s half-centuries, followed by Ben Lister’s 3/35 powered New Zealand to beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the third T20I and won the series 2-1.
Set to chase 167, the UAE batting lineup struggled and could only accumulate 134/7 in 20 overs and thus handed a resounding 32-run victory to New Zealand.
Young all-rounder Aayan Afzal Khan waged a lone battle for the depleted home side with a sensible 36-ball 42 which featured four boundaries and a six.
Besides him, only Basil Hameed made a notable contribution with a cautious 28-ball 24.
The rest of the hosts’ batters seemed hapless against a dominant New Zealand bowling attack as four of them failed to make it into the double figures.
Ben Lister spearheaded the New Zealand bowling charge with 3/35 while Kyle Jamieson, Mitchell Santner and Adithya Ashok struck out a batter each.
Put into bat first, New Zealand once again got off to a dismal start as the touring side lost two wickets for a mere 35 runs in five overs with Chad Bowed (9) and Tim Seifert (13) perishing cheaply.
Following two quick blows Chapman and Young anchored the innings as the pair stitched a brilliant 84-run partnership for the third wicket.
The duo appeared in complete control against the UAE bowlers before Junaid Siddique struck in his comeback spell to get rid of Young, who scored an anchoring half-century.
Young smashed seven boundaries and a six in the course of his anchoring 46-ball 56.
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Chapman, who scored at a rapid pace soon followed Young’s footsteps back to the pavilion in the 17th over, briefly after notching up his second successive fifty.
The left-handed batter scored 51 from 32 balls, laced up with five boundaries and two sixes.
With both set batters back into the hut, all-rounder Mitchell Santner bolstered New Zealand’s total with a brisk cameo, scoring 20 off 11 while debutant Dean Foxcroft scored a run-a-ball 10.
Junaid Siddique led the bowling attack for the UAE in the third T20I with 3/26, followed by one each from Muhammad Jawadullah and Zahoor Khan.
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