Zimbabwe v Pakistan, 2013-14

At Harare, August 31, 2013. Third one-day international: Pakistan won by 108 runs. Pakistan 260-6 (50 overs) (Nasir Jamshed 38, Ahmed Shehzad 54, Misbah-ul-Haq 67, Umar Amin 33; T. L. Chatara 3-48); ‡Zimbabwe 152 (40 overs) (M. N. Waller 48). MoM: Misbah-ul-Haq. MoS: Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan). Zimbabwe's hopes of pulling off their first one-day series triumph over a major nation since January 2001 - when they won in New Zealand - ended in anticlimax. They failed miserably to cope with another late onslaught from Pakistan's batsmen, or with the beguiling spin of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, who between them claimed four for 38 from 15 overs. Umar Amin and Sarfraz Ahmed (27) showed clean-striking finesse after studious work from the openers and more careful graft from Misbah, as a potentially average total was again turned into a good one. Batting was less straightforward on a drier pitch than those used for the previous two games, but Zimbabwe's effort was feeble nonetheless - and made worse by two runouts from Misbah to remove Taylor and Williams. Pakistan threw an unusual monkey off their backs: it was the first time since 2002, in Australia, that they had won the deciding match of a bilateral one-day series.