Opener Tim Seifert carried his bat for 84 in an unbroken 129 run partnership with Kane Williamson to steer New Zealand to a nine wicket win over Pakistan in the second Twenty20 international on Sunday and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series.<\/p>\n
Williamson finished 57 not out in his return to the short format as New Zealand overtook Pakistan's total of 6-163 with four balls to spare.<\/p>\n
Seifert took his runs from only 63 balls with eight fours and three sixes, unleashing a wide variety of shots on a flat wicket against a Pakistan attack that struggled to find consistently challenging lengths.<\/p>\n
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Williamson was scratchy at first, then became unstoppable, reaching his 12th T20 international half century from 37 balls on the same ground where he scored a Test best 251 in his last innings.<\/p>\n
"It was a good surface, good for the bowlers but obviously if you could build partnerships you could get there," Williamson said.<\/p>\n
Earlier, veteran Mohammad Hafeez was left unbeaten on 99, his highest score in 98 T20 internationals, as Pakistan again fell short of a challenging total.<\/p>\n
Hafeez came to the last over 82 not out, hit three singles, a six and a four and was 93 not out with only one ball left in the innings.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/BLACKCAPS\/status\/1340588836292706304?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n He did the best he could, hitting the final delivery for six to finish just short of a maiden century.<\/p>\n New Zealand was reinforced on Sunday by the return of four members of its Test squad, including Williamson, who missed the first match of the series.<\/p>\n Williamson also missed the second Test against the West Indies due to the birth of his first child.<\/p>\n Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kyle Jamieson also returned, giving New Zealand an all new pace attack.<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/BLACKCAPS\/status\/1340565903662977027?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n Southee made his presence felt, taking 4-21 from his four overs to weaken the Pakistan innings.<\/p>\n Boult took 0-33 and Jamieson 0-43 but New Zealand generally bowled well after losing the toss.<\/p>\n Pakistan also won the toss and batted in the first match of the series at Eden Park.<\/p>\n It was caught out when its top order batsmen went too hard early, without waiting to get the pace of a pitch on which the ball sometimes stopped but also bounced sharply.<\/p>\n The top order failed and Pakistan was 5-39 before recovering to 9-153.<\/p>\n Confident his batsmen had learned that lesson, captain Shadab Khan batted again on winning the toss.<\/p>\n Again the Pakistan top order batsmen were probably too eager and, in the face of Southee's first spell in which he took 3-16 from three overs, slumped to 4-56.<\/p>\n