Farhat carries his bat as New Zealand call the shots

The pitch wasn’t a difficult one to bat on, but the Pakistani batsmen somehow contrived to throw away their wickets, first to O’Brien and then to Tuffey. At one stage, Pakistan were reeling at 59 for five, but opener Imran Farhat, who carried his bat through, held firm to script an unbeaten 117 to help his team reach a respectable total.

The young left-hander’s was the only notable contribution as three Pakistan batsmen -- skipper Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq -- failed to open their accounts.
Tim Southee drew first blood for New Zealand, removing Salman Butt after which O'Brien took matters into his own hands in his final international outing.

For Farhat, though, it was an ideal situation to revive his career. En route to his century, the left-hander became the first Pakistani opener to score a century outside the sub-continent since Salman Butt's effort in Sydney in 2005.

New Zealand openers Tim McIntosh and debutant BJ Watling strung together a 47-run stand to provide the Kiwis with their best start of the series so far.

SCORE BOARD

PAKISTAN (I Innings):

Farhat (not out)    117
Butt b Southee    9
Iqbal c Guptill b O'Brien    6
Yousuf c McIntosh b O'Brien    0
U Akmal c Guptill b O'Brien    0
Misbah c McCullum b O'Brien    0
K Akmal c Guptill b Martin    22
Aamer c McCullum b Tuffey    23
Gul c McCullum b Tuffey    24
Asif c McCullum b Tuffey    0
Kaneria c McCullum b Tuffey    16
Extras (LB-2, NB-4)    6     
Total (all out, 64.3 overs)    223
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-39, 3-43, 4-51, 5-51, 6-90, 7-159, 8-194, 9-194.
Bowling: Martin 9-0-37-1, Southee 17-4-62-1, O'Brien 15-5-35-4, Tuffey 15.3-4-52-4, Vettori 8-0-35-0.

NEW ZEALAND (I Innings):

McIntosh (batting)    31
Watling (batting)    13
Extras (NB-3)    3     
Total (for no loss, 19 overs)    47
Bowling: Aamer 7-3-8-0, Asif 5-1-11-0, Gul 5-0-20-0, Kaneria 2-1-8-0.