QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand, 8 January 2004 — Imran Farhat and Yousuf Youhana combined in a 143-run stand of classic elegance and control as Pakistan cruised to a convincing six-wicket win over New Zealand here yesterday to level the one-day cricket series one-all.

New Zealand knew their 235-7 was going to be difficult to defend, and Pakistan picked it off with ease, posting 236-4 with three overs to spare.

Although Yasir Hameed and Saleem Elahi fell cheaply, and Pakistan were 52-2 after 14 overs, the result never looked in doubt when Youhana joined Farhat at the crease.

Farhat, curbing his natural attacking instincts at first, coolly accumulated runs as required through his favored off-side and with some helpful offerings on the leg stump. He faced 104 balls for his 87, which included eight fours and a six, and was out with the score at 195 and the result not in doubt.

Between them, Farhat and Youhana put on 143 runs in 25 overs after Youhana had also started slowly and waited 14 balls before getting off the mark by hitting Chris Cairns over the bowler’s head for the first of his 10 boundaries. Youhana was unbeaten on 88 using his command of wrist control to cut, pull and drive the New Zealand attack to all points of the boundary.

New Zealand’s troublesome death bowling, which saw Pakistan slay 102 runs in the final 10 overs in the first one-dayer, was not to be tested this time.

Daryl Tuffey was again the pick of the bowlers with one for 28 off 10 while a disappointing Cairns went for 28 off four and Daniel Vettori couldn’t contain in the middle as he took one for 58 off 10.

When Inzamam ul-Haq won the toss for Pakistan and elected to bowl, although without Shoaib Akhtar who remains sidelined with a groin injury, Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed vindicated their captain’s decision. Within 15 overs New Zealand had 53 runs on the board and three batsmen back in the pavilion.

“The bowlers contained the New Zealand batsmen very well ... and the team has been doing very well chasing runs,” Pakistan coach Javed Miandad said. “In this country the first hour always helps the fast bowlers, the same thing in the last game, then later the wicket becomes better.”

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said the pitch was tricky early on but that wasn’t an excuse for the batting woes.

“It certainly set us back, we didn’t get key partnerships going and the scoreboard reflects it with a series of 20-run partnerships,” he said.

“The pitch just held fractionally which made it hard work, but that aside we just lost wickets at key times.”

When New Zealand were 112-6, with the top order all gone, a sub-150 score was on the cards until all-rounder Jacob Oram and Brendan McCullum added 91 runs for the seventh wicket to give the score some respectability. They added 91 runs in 17 overs before Oram was bowled by Sami for 54 while McCullum remained unbeaten on 55 from 51 balls.

All-rounder Abdul Razzaq was the most accurate Pakistan bowler with one for 24 off 10, while Sami suffered in a McCullum onslaught at the end to finish with three for 51.