Tait leads Australia's great escape

Australia 127 (Hussey 40*, Gul 3-20) beat Pakistan 9 for 125 (K Akmal 64, Tait 3-13) by 2 runs .

Scorecard

Shaun Tait proved he can still be a force at international level as he helped Australia to a tense two-run win that completed a clean-sweep across all three formats against Pakistan this summer. Tait bowled the fastest ball ever recorded in Australia and grabbed 3 for 13 including the key wicket of Kamran Akmal, who had threatened to end Australia's streak with his highest Twenty20 score.

Pakistan's trip has been notable for terrible fielding and the inability to capitalise whenever they got on top of Australia. This time their fielding was sharper than it had been at any stage over the past couple of months but their failure to keep Australia down remained a major issue. Despite dismissing Australia for 127 and being on track at 4 for 98 in the 15th over, they found a way to lose.

The problems began when Kamran chipped to mid-on for 64 from 33 balls to hand Tait his third wicket. Steven Smith then delivered two important breakthroughs on debut when he had Fawad Alam caught at slip and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan stumped, and the wickets kept tumbling. In the end, Pakistan needed 10 from the final Shane Watson over. Umar Akmal was on strike, having been the key after the loss of his brother, but when he holed out from the first ball the result was all but sealed.

It was a shame that Kamran's team-mates couldn't reward him after he led an impressive fightback when the visitors had stumbled to 2 for 10. Kamran was a one-man resistance movement and raced to a 25-ball half-century, the quickest ever by a Pakistan batsman in a Twenty20 international.

His fifty came up with a typically muscular pull for six off Dirk Nannes and at the time Pakistan were 4 for 81 and no other batsman in their line-up had reached double figures. It was an incredible turnaround for a man who was dropped from both the Test and ODI sides during the tour and had a best international score of 34 in any format on the trip.

In a match where Tait broke the 160kph barrier and his new-ball partner Nannes was fast and accurate, the first-change Mitchell Johnson was a welcome relief and Kamran helped blast 20 off Johnson's first over. Despite the support of his brother Umar (21), there wasn't enough of a spread in the runs from the rest of the Pakistanis.

The trouble began with the quick loss of both the openers. Nannes' first over was a maiden that included the run-out of Imran Nazir as the pressure built, and Tait didn't drop below 150kph in his opening spell. He hit 160.7kph, which was the fastest ball recorded in Australia, and from a 152kph offering had Imran Farhat caught at slip for 8.

That undid much of the good work from Pakistan in the field after they dismissed Australia with eight balls to spare, with David Hussey holding things together during an unbeaten 40. Only twice in a 20-over match had Australia scored less than their 127 and it was thanks to great bowling from Umar Gul and a sharp fielding effort from his team-mates. Three run-outs hurt Australia badly, including two that resulted in flat, accurate throws from the outfield from Umar Akmal.

But the most impressive was Fawad's effort to get rid of Cameron White for 4. A Gul short ball lobbed off White's body to point where Fawad took the catch, but while the umpire was turning down the appeal, White wandered out of his crease and was brilliantly snared by a smart throw.

It was the second good thing that Fawad did in the field after he held a sharp chance at point to send Michael Clarke on his way for 32 from 26 balls. Clarke's innings was useful but didn't exactly disprove the doubters who believe he is unsuited to Twenty20 cricket.

He began in promising enough fashion with a cracking cut for four from his first delivery but there was only one more boundary and most of his runs came from scrambled ones and twos. Neither of Australia's debutants had innings to remember - Travis Birt was out second ball when he missed a paddle sweep and was bowled, and Smith was bowled by Rana's slower delivery for 8.

The Twenty20 specialist David Warner made a handy 24 but his dismissal sparked a mini-collapse of 5 for 27. The last of those wickets was Brad Haddin, stumped down the leg side. It was one of several good things Kamran did for the match. He simply didn't have enough support with the bat.

New Zealand gun down woeful Bangladesh

New Zealand 79 for 0 (McCullum 56*) beat Bangladesh 78 (Vettori 3-6, Nathan McCullum 2-15) by 10 wickets.

Scorecard

An abysmal all-round display from Bangladesh meant that New Zealand romped to a ten-wicket victory in just 8.2 overs in the tour opening Twenty20 match at Seddon Park. A mediocre bowling performance was not helped by an error-ridden fielding effort by the tourists, who dropped straightforward chances from each of the New Zealand openers. The match was, however, already lost by the visiting batsmen, who crashed to an embarrassing 78 after putting themselves in on what seemed to be a good batting surface.

Daniel Vettori and spin partner Nathan McCullum completely foxed the Bangladesh middle order, snaring 5 wickets for 21 runs between them. Man of the match Vettori picked 3 for 6 and was close to unplayable, utilising the bounce and turn of the Hamilton wicket to brilliant effect.

Daryl Tuffey ended with two wickets thanks to a tight line and length both in his opening spell and against the tail. Jacob Oram and James Franklin shared three wickets between them in the middle overs.

Tamim Iqbal started off well, smashing Tim Southee over midwicket and straight down the ground in the second over, but was caught down the leg side, off a short ball that grazed his gloves, for 14. Aftab Ahmed, in his first Bangladesh appearance since April 2008, attempted to continue the momentum with a series of wild slogs to the leg side but managed to connect only once, lifting James Franklin over fine leg for six before being outdone by a yorker two balls later.

The New Zealand spinners then came into play, making an instant impact on the match. Vettori had Mohammad Ashraful caught at deep point, attempting a lofted cover drive, before trapping Mushfiqur Rahim in front two balls later. Nathan McCullum had Shakib Al Hasan playing on to a straighter one, leaving Bangladesh in tatters at 42 for 5 in the eighth over. Both spinners were tough to get away and applied telling pressure, even as Bangladesh wickets continued to fall at an alarming rate. Mahmudullah fell to McCullum in his final over before Vettori had Shahadat Hossain stumped, playing down the wrong line.

The tail provided some short-lived resistance, with Raqibul Hasan slogging his way to 18 from 13 deliveries, the top score for Bangladesh, but the home side's pacemen were on hand to smartly polish off the tail with two overs to spare.

New Zealand's openers, Brendon McCullum and debutant Peter Ingram, started slowly, but accelerated once McCullum hit his straps, hammering 56 from 27 deliveries in an effortless innings that included two audacious scoops over the keeper's head. Sloppy fielding and lacklustre bowling played their part in the touring side's early demise, with the bowlers serving up several rank long-hops and the fielders conceding too many avoidable runs to create any semblance of pressure on the batsmen.

Bangladesh will hope to recover from this humiliating defeat in time for the first ODI in Napier on Friday. However, the tour opener does provide an ominous sign for what is likely to be a lop-sided series unless the tourists raise their game drastically.

West Indies earn consolation win

West Indies 119 for 5 (Smith 37, Dowlin 37*) beat Bangladesh 118 for 9 by five wickets

Finally, West Indies won a game. Bangladesh imploded spectacularly at the top but they kept playing like millionaires to be restricted to a below-par 118, which West Indies overhauled without breaking a sweat.

The only concern in the chase was whether West Indies would collapse against spin and Bangladesh didn't wait long to find out. They started with a double-spin attack and Shakib Al Hasan claimed the wicket of Dale Richards first ball, but Devon Smith thwarted them with his aggressive batting.

Smith started with a slog-swept six off the offspinner Naeem Islam and followed it next ball with a skillful inside-out lofted drive over covers, before taking on Mahmudullah in the third over. Three pulls, one of them a six, helped him take 15 in that over and eased the pressure of the early wicket. Though Smith fell 50 short of the target, and West Indies lost a couple more cheaply towards the end, Travis Dowlin took over to lead the hosts past the line. Dowlin knew the required rate wasn't steep enough to warrant any risks and he played accordingly. He did hit four boundaries, with a lofted hit over extra cover off Mehrab Hossain jnr being the highlight, but took care not to play many flashy shots. The same couldn't be said about Bangladesh, though.

Bangladesh charged ahead with a sense of fatal adventure, which was caught perfectly in the run-out of Naeem, their highest scorer today. He missed a sweep against David Bernard and the ball went straight to the keeper but he nevertheless tried to steal a single, only to be found miles short of his ground. Till then, Naeem had been dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground. He walked down the track to smack Darren Sammy over deep midwicket, moved outside leg to thump Gavin Tonge over long-off before collecting more boundaries with sweeps and pulls.

Before Naeem, there was more frenetic drama. Bangladesh came out oozing so much intent that something had to give. And it did. Three wickets fell in the first 14 deliveries: Junaid Siddique spooned a slower one to cover, Mohammad Ashraful played a weak lap shot for a first-ball duck, and Tamim Iqbal flicked to short midwicket. The score read 12 for 3 but Naeem was in no mood to buckle down. Shakib Al Hasan started a touch slowly but soon caught the Naeem spirit and unfurled slog-sweeps before he was cleaned up by Nikita Miller, bowled round his legs.

After Naeem, there was more chaos. Mushfiqur Rahim, who had moved cautiously to 3 in nine deliveries, ran himself out with some poor running. Responding to a push to point for a single, he jogged across and would have still made it had he not tried to plonk his bat lethargically inside the crease. Raqibul Hasan missed a straight ball and was trapped in front.

It was left to Mahmudullah, who had performed well with bat and ball through this tour, and Mehrab, to an extent, to show some caution and push the score past 100, which eventually proved inadequate.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out