Boult's new high, and a top-order in shambles

Pakistan succumbed to their joint third-lowest total in the third ODI against New Zealand in Dunedin. Their lowest ODI total is 43, which they made against West Indies in Cape Town in 1992-93. They barely managed to avoid the lowest ODI total in New Zealand - 73 - by the home team against Sri Lanka in 2006-07. However, their 74 is the lowest total for a visiting side in ODIs in New Zealand.

At 32 for 8, Pakistan seemed like they would set a new record for the lowest-ever ODI total, which belongs to Zimbabwe, who were dismissed for 35 against Sri Lanka. Before today, there were only five other instances in ODI history where teams had lost eight wickets for fewer runs. Pakistan themselves were eight down for 25 against West Indies in Cape Town in 1992-93, which is the lowest score by any team at eight down.

This was Pakistan's ninth successive loss to New Zealand in ODIs - their joint second-worst streak against any team. They had lost 14 consecutive matches against South Africa between 1995 and 2000. They endured a similar nine-match streak against West Indies in 1992-93. Pakistan's last win against New Zealand came in Sharjah in December 2014. Their last win against them in New Zealand came in 2011 in Hamilton. Since then, they have lost eight matches in a row to the home team. Pakistan have now lost four successive bilateral ODI series to New Zealand. Their last series win against New Zealand was in 2010-11, when they prevailed in a six-match series 3-2.

Trent Boult ripped through Pakistan's top order, reducing them to 2 for 3 in the fourth over of the chase. Boult's final figures of 5 for 17 are the best by a New Zealand bowler in ODIs against Pakistan. Matt Henry's 5 for 30, in Abu Dhabi in 2014-15, was the previous best. Boult's five-for in this match ranks among the most economical five-wicket haul by New Zealand bowlers in ODIs. Only Daniel Vettori's 5 for 7 against Bangladesh and Shane Bond's 6 for 19 against India have come at a lower average than Boult's. Boult has been prolific in his last two ODI series, taking 18 wickets at just 11.44 runs apiece and striking every 16.1 deliveries. He took ten wickets in the previous series, against West Indies, at an average of just 10 runs per wicket.

Pakistan's top-seven batsmen have struggled for runs this series, with none barring Fakhar Zaman - who has scores of 82 not out and 2 from two innings - averaging above 30. As many as 13 of the 21 scores by their top seven in this series have been single digits, four of them being ducks. Their collective average of 17.10 is the second worst in any bilateral series with a minimum of 20 innings. Incidentally, their worst such performance had also come in New Zealand, in 1992-93, when their top seven averaged just 16.66.