Kamran gifted birthday boy Ross Taylor a couple of stunning reprieves within a space of three deliveries and the New Zealand batsman made Pakistan pay for the let-offs with an unbeaten, career-best 131 off 124 balls to lead his team to a 110-run win in their World Cup Pool A match here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Taylor was the reason why New Zealand catapulted themselves from 180-5 in 40 overs to 302-7 in 50. The Black Caps scored 139 runs in the last ten overs, 100 of which came in the final five. They were 55-2 in 13 overs when Kamran let Taylor off the hook twice in a Shoaib Akhtar over and the New Zealand vice-captain made it sure that he would make full use of the gifts.

Chasing 303 to win, Pakistan were never in the hunt and just managed to avoid what would have been an even more embarrassing defeat because of a valiant ninth-wicket stand of 66 off 51 balls from Abdul Razzaq (62) and Umar Gul (34 not out). They were finally shot down for just 192 in 41.4 overs. It was the second consecutive batting failure for Pakistan, who were bowled out for a paltry 184 by minnows Canada in Colombo last week.

Kamran wasn’t the only villain for Pakistan, who began the match as the only team in the tournament with full six points from three World Cup games but ended it in the sort of disarray that has put a big question mark over their World Cup aspirations.

Serious questions will certainly be asked about the fitness of Shoaib Akhtar, who after a decent spell with the new ball, delivered a series of full tosses in the death overs to finish with unflattering figures of 1-70 in 9 overs. He was hit for seven sixers and eight four and was milked for 28 runs in the 47th over by Taylor.

Razzaq gave away 30 in his last over – the most expensive over in this tournament so far – to return with figures of 0-49 from four.

For the fourth time in a row, Pakistan’s openers flopped miserably as Mohammad Hafeez (5) and Ahmed Shehzad (10), got out cheaply with their team chasing a big target on what was a quick wicket.

Afridi’s decision to bowl out his and Gul’s final overs in batting power-play also backfired as Akhtar, Razzaq and Abdur Rehman (1-60) were plundered by Taylor and company.

The man of the day was Taylor, who played an amazing Jekyll-Hyde knock. He made a shaky start and didn’t look comfortable playing his shots till the 40th over. But when he cut loose, it started to rain sixes and fours and a sizeable crowd that had mostly come to cheer for Pakistan, started cheering for him.

But he should thank Kamran Akmal for what was a perfect birthday present.

It all happened in 14th over when New Zealand were two down and Akhtar was looking menacing. He had bowled Brendon McCullum (6) on just the fourth ball of the match and must have thought that he had accounted for Taylor when he edged one toward the ‘keeper but Kamran didn’t even go for the ball that flew just a couple of feet away from him. Younis Khan at slip watched Kamran in disbelief.

A ball and a boundary later, Kamran gave Taylor another birthday present when he floored a healthy edge, leaving Akhtar completely distraught at the other end.

Kamran’s appalling showing behind the stumps revived memories of the disastrous 2009 Test against Australia in Sydney where the erratic stumper dropped Michael Hussey thrice, allowing the seasoned Aussie to grab a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Taylor, who cruised to his first One-day International ton in almost three years, dominated almost all the major partnerships in the New Zealand innings. He added 57 off 98 balls with Martin Guptill (57 off 86), 62 off 77 with Scott Styris (28 off 37), 35 off 23 with Nathan McCullum (19 off 10) and more importantly 85 off just 22 balls with Jacob Oram (25 off 9).

Taylor took 78 balls to reach his first fifty but needed just 39 more for the next one. He was harsh on Akhtar, hitting three sixers and two fours off his ninth over. The 49th over bowled by Razzaq went for 30 that included a trio of sixes and two boundaries.

Pakistan were unable to lift their run-chase and lost their top six batters for just 66 with fast bowler Tim Southee (3-25) showing that there was enough life in the brand new wicket at Pallekele.

Afridi (17) tried to give the chase a shot in the arm by hitting two fours and a six but was sent back by Oram. Umar Akmal chipped in with a 58-ball 38 before Razzaq and Gul tried to delay the inevitable.