CHRISTCHURCH, 11 January 2004 — New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming beat the demons yesterday, cracking an unbeaten 115 in leading his side to an emphatic seven-wicket win in a one-day match against Pakistan, and putting them 2-1 ahead in the five-match series.

After making Pakistan bat first and restricting them to 255 on a friendly wicket, Fleming brought up the winning runs with a classic boundary and 22 balls to spare.

It was a much-needed morale booster for the New Zealand Black Caps after they were comprehensively outplayed by Pakistan in the second match.

Fleming had been angry at the failures of his recognized batsmen in the first two games - and his own inability to get passed the 40s - and his mood would not have been helped when Pakistan announced the return of speed demon Shoaib Akhtar from injury.

After Pakistan set a run rate of more than five an hour, Fleming’s mood would have darkened further when opener Craig Cumming failed again, leaving New Zealand in early trouble at one for 10.

Hamish Marshall joined his captain and quietly accumulated the singles while Fleming set about the run chase, unveiling a delightful array of strokes off both the front and back foot.

In front of his home crowd, he played with a maturity not seen for many a one-day innings, reaching his half century in 48 balls and without resorting to rash strokes.

Marshall eventually succumbed in the 30th over when he swept Malik straight into the hands of Mohammad Sami, but by then New Zealand were 158 for two, the run rate was comfortable and the win was coming ever closer. Scott Styris raced to 20 before he was clean bowled by Akhtar, bringing Craig McMillan to the crease to support his skipper to the end.

It completed a memorable match for Fleming who scored his fifth One-Day International century and also took his 100th catch of his One-Day International matches.

Akhtar reached a top speed of 159 kilometers (98 miles) an hour in his comeback game from a groin injury, and was the best of the Pakistan bowlers with figures of one for 43 off 10 overs.

Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq knew the 256 target his side set here would be difficult to defend.

“I think we were 30 runs short because it was a good batting track but the middle order was not going well in this game,” he said. Pakistan had reached 144 for two in the 30th over when their golden touch deserted them.

In a 12-over spell, they lost five wickets for 46 runs, with Saleem Elahi out for 80, Yousuf Youhana was run out for 36 while Inzamam ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik failed to get a start, and Moin Khan was out for 10.

It was left to a swashbuckling Abdul Razzaq to plunder the New Zealand bowling. He was at his explosive best with an unbeaten 50 off 26 balls.

With four fours and three lusty sixes he again exposed New Zealand’s woeful inability to contain in the final overs as the Black Caps gave up 57 runs in the last five overs.

Daryl Tuffey was by far the most efficient bowler — after going for 24 runs in his first four overs, he came back to take two for seven in a four-over spell and ended the innings with two for 45 off 10.

The fourth match in the series, in which the first three games have been won by the team batting second, will be played in Napier next Wednesday.