New Zealand, with a batting order more suited to drudgery than chasing down a daunting target, slumped to a 13-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan in their ICC World T20 match at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

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The Black Caps were chasing 178 for victory, but with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal producing all his fancy toys and taking 4-30, they finished on 164 for nine.

New Zealand were undone by their decision to bat Ross Taylor as low as number six and, even though he blasted 26 off 11 balls, by the time he came in he had been left with too much to do.

Brendon McCullum could not find the fluency of his previous innings – the highest ever in T20 internationals – and scored 32 off 31 balls, with four fours and a six.

As expected, it was Pakistan’s spinners who undermined the New Zealand batting by taking wickets and restricting the run-rate. Apart from Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez was outstanding, conceding just 15 runs in four overs and Shahid Afridi broke the opening stand and took 1-30.

New Zealand made a solid start to their chase with openers Rob Nicol (33) and Kane Williamson (15) adding 53 in 6.4 overs before Nicol was bowled by Afridi due to poor shot selection.

An impatient Williamson was run out in the next over and New Zealand then promoted Daniel Vettori to number four in the order. The left-hander may have added 48 for the third wicket with McCullum, but they took until the 15th over to do it, admittedly in the face of some top-class spin bowling.

A brief flurry from Taylor, who hit three fours and a six, gave New Zealand a chance but their hopes died when the captain was run out trying to steal a second run to long-on, brothers Umar and Kamran Akmal pulling off a brilliant double-play.

Pakistan’s batsmen also continued their impressive form this year as they posted a convincing 177 for six in their 20 overs after being sent in to bat.

Their top-order flakiness seems to have been lost a long time ago as captain Hafeez and Imran Nazir (25 off 16) put on 47 in 5.4 overs.

Hafeez went on to score 43 from 38 balls, but the innings of the day came from Nasir Jamshed, who used smart footwork and wonderful wrists to blaze 56 off 35 balls, with two fours and four sixes.

The top-order had powered Pakistan to 105 for one after 11 overs and New Zealand did well to restrict them to just 72 more runs in the last nine overs.

Left-arm spinner Vettori did the most to peg Pakistan back, inducing Jamshed to hole out to a tumbling Nathan McCullum at long-on and bowling his last two overs for just nine runs to finish with1-23.

Tim Southee and Jacob Oram each took two wickets to further restrict the 2009 champions, but Umar Akmal (23 off 15) and Afridi (12 off six) provided a late boost to give Pakistan a match-winning score.

The need for trophies and the No 1 Test ranking are driving Imran Tahir at the moment – and he’s heading for Johannesburg and Pakistan as a result.

Tahir announced on Wednesday that, tired of being beaten to the floor with the Dolphins, he will be playing his domestic cricket for the bizhub Highveld Lions from next season. The Lions are obviously delighted to have the services of one of the most successful domestic bowlers of recent times on a one-year contract.

“I want to be around more senior players and with a more successful team, I want to win trophies,” Tahir explained at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

“It’s hard when the team just relies on you – I was bowling 70 to 80 overs a game for the Dolphins, which is too much. It’s good when you’re 24 or 25, but I need more support,” the 33-year-old Tahir said.

“There’s a good environment here and players who can help me like Neil McKenzie, who I played with in Hampshire and we got along very well.”

While Tahir’s home for next summer is now sorted out, the legspinner also announced on Wednesday that he will be returning to Pakistan, the country of his birth, for some inspiration ahead of the winter’s major challenge – the three tests in England that will decide the No 1 ranked team.

The source of this hoped-for inspiration will be Pakistan great Abdul Qadir, the leg-spinning legend who performed miraculous deeds against England, taking 82 wickets in 16 tests against them between 1977 and 1987.

Tahir first sat down with Qadir in 2000 and is looking forward to reuniting with someone who has clearly been a role-model, their whirring actions and desire to bowl every variety of delivery being very similar.

“I did have offers from counties and I actually accepted one from Surrey, which I then turned down, because I’ve been working really hard on my fitness and I’m going to back to Pakistan to get some help from Abdul Qadir. I’m kind of a bowler like him and he’s been really helpful to me before, since the first time I met him in 2000.

“He’s a legend and he can help me big time… I just need to get him out on to the cricket ground because it’s 48 degrees outside!” Tahir said of the 56-year-old who took 236 wickets in 67 tests.

“It’s a very big series against England and if we can win it, it would be something special, one of the biggest achievements in my career.”

The weather in England is typically miserable at the moment and if it stays the same through to South Africa’s arrival in July, then Tahir will face an uphill struggle akin to David’s battle with Goliath on green seamers.

“It’s normally drier in July and August and I hope there’s a good summer for us, it will be harder for me if the pitches are like they are now. But the fact that most tests in England are now going into the fourth or fifth day is good for spinners,” Tahir said.

The exuberant leggie from Lahore tends to charge off around the park whenever he takes a wicket and his celebrations have attracted some unkind words from overseas.

“If I’m playing for my country, I try as hard as I can. I make sure I don’t relax because then I might lose concentration and bowl a bad ball. I like to try too hard!

“I just want to enjoy my cricket and the celebrations just come, I go with the flow. Even in club cricket in England I used to do it… I don’t know if I just lose myself,” Tahir said.

Sit back and enjoy the ride, is probably the best advice for anyone watching Tahir in action as he is the type of bowler who likes to attack and he is not scared to show his personality, which adds to the entertainment value of his mystical art.

The England team and their supporters have certainly been puffed up on airs of self-congratulation and pomposity since their ascension to the No 1 ranking, and Tahir has already been written off as a threat, his figures of just 18 wickets at an average of 37.05 in seven tests being used as justification.

Tahir is not one to trash-talk and he refused to counter with England’s miserable record against spin.

“They had one bad series against Pakistan but I would say they are good players of spin. I wouldn’t say they’re not good against it. We have to respect them to beat them and they are a good team, so it will be a good challenge. I’m sure everyone will be up for it because we want to take their place at No 1,” he said.

What critics of Tahir have conveniently overlooked is that those 18 wickets have come in some of the most pace-friendly conditions imaginable as South Africa hosted tests against Australia and Sri Lanka and they then travelled to the verdant pitches of New Zealand.

“There’ve been five tests in South Africa and three in New Zealand, and maybe one of those pitches took spin, so I had to have defensive fields,” Tahir pointed out.

That Tahir is a threat to even the strongest batting line-ups is borne out by comments made by England star Kevin Pietersen in late 2010 when they played together in the Dolphins team.

“He is in a different league. He spins the ball both ways and he’s got incredible control. If you can spin the ball both ways you get wickets.

“He does bowl the odd bad ball, but if managed properly and given lots of confidence, the man can bowl any team out,” Pietersen said.

Tahir is going to England full of hunger – he is definitely making up for lost time after only graduating to test cricket at the age of 32 – and he also has the knowledge of how to prosper there, having enjoyed successful stints with Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hampshire and Warwickshire between 2003 and 2011.

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South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir is so intent on making an impression against England in their Test series later this year that he turned down lucrative county offers so that he could spend time in Pakistan with the legendary Abdul Qadir.

South Africa visit England in July and August for three Tests in a battle between the number one and two ranked teams on the International Cricket Council’s rankings and the Pakistan-born Tahir is likely to be the leading spinner in a squad that features three of the best pacemen in the world in Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

“It’s a very big series against England and if we can win it would be something special, one of the biggest achievements in my career,” Tahir told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

“I did have offers from counties and I actually accepted one from Surrey, which I then turned down, because I’ve been working really hard on my fitness and I’m going to back to Pakistan to get some help from Abdul Qadir. I’m kind of a bowler like him and he’s been really helpful to me before, since the first time I met him in 2000.

“He’s a legend and he can help me big time … I just need to get him out on to the cricket ground because it’s 48 degrees outside!” Tahir said.

Qadir took 236 wickets in 67 Tests for Pakistan between 1977 and 1990, including 82 in 16 Tests against England.

The 33-year-old Tahir made his Test debut for his adopted country in November and just 18 wickets at an average of 37.05 in seven Tests have led to some English critics writing him off as a threat.

But Tahir pointed out that he has yet to play in a test in helpful conditions.

“There’ve been five Tests in South Africa and three in New Zealand, and maybe one of those pitches took spin, so I had to have defensive fields.”

Tahir, who has played at first-class level for a staggering 18 different teams, said he liked to attack and was unconcerned about criticism that he might try too hard, bowl too many different deliveries in an over or celebrate wickets too exuberantly.

“If I’m playing for my country, I try as hard as I can. I make sure I don’t relax because then I might lose concentration and bowl a bad ball. I like to try too hard!

“I just want to enjoy my cricket and the celebrations just come, I go with the flow. Even in club cricket in England I used to do it … I don’t know if I just lose myself,” Tahir said.

The start of the English season has been marred by terrible weather and Tahir, who has played for Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hampshire and Warwickshire between 2003 and 2011, admitted he hoped for hotter conditions before South Africa arrive.

“It’s normally drier in July and August and I hope there’s a good summer for us, it will be harder for me if the pitches are like they are now. But the fact that most Tests in England are now going into the fourth or fifth day is good for spinners,” Tahir said.

England batsman Kevin Pietersen described Tahir as being “world-class” when they played together in the KZN Dolphins team in 2010.

“He is in a different league. He spins the ball both ways and he’s got incredible control. If you can spin the ball both ways you get wickets.

“He does bowl the odd bad ball, but if managed properly and given lots of confidence, the man can bowl any team out,” Pietersen said.

Tanveer arrived in Johannesburg late last week and is set for his first outing for the Lions when they play the Chevrolet Knights in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.

Dave Nosworthy’s team are currently on top of the log and have the opportunity to extend their one-point lead over the Titans, who have played an extra game, and the Knights, who are two points behind, also after six matches.

The left-arm paceman and powerful lower-order hitter has been playing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and was one of the star performers in that competition, taking 13 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 15.53 and an economy rate of just 5.94.

“I was in very good form in Bangladesh and hopefully tomorrow will be my first chance to play together with the Lions. The Lions don’t have many big names, but they have very good talent and have been performing very well.

“The Lions are on the top of the log, which means the local players have done very well, they’ve been winning on their own. That means there is less pressure on me.

“In the BPL, my team wasn’t winning, which always makes it difficult for the professional, he is under more pressure. But here at the Lions, the local guys have performed very well,” Tanveer said at the Wanderers on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Tanveer first played for Pakistan in 2007, making his debut in South Africa in the T20 World Cup, and he was one of the stars of the tournament, helping his team into the final, where, unfortunately for them, they lost to India by five runs in a thriller.

“The cricket is very good in South Africa, most international players love to play here, and the facilities are very good too. One of the things I love about South Africa is that I made my debut here in the T20 World Cup. I have good and bad memories of the Wanderers, I played well here, but we lost the final – that’s the bottom line! But there is good bounce and swing here,” Tanveer said.

KNEE PROBLEMS

Knee problems, leading to surgery in 2010, perhaps explains why Tanveer is in Africa rather than preparing for the Asia Cup in Dhaka with the rest of the Pakistan squad. The bowler himself blames his unorthodox action, which leads to him bowling off the wrong foot, a la Mike Procter, for the injury.

“I was out for one-and-a-half years with a knee injury, it was because of my action, the whole load is on my left leg. All my weight is on one leg, with no support from the other one. But I’m finally back to full form, I’m getting my swing back.

“In my country, we’re not allowed to ask why we aren’t selected, but I believe it was at the last moment and I’m not disappointed – this will be a good opportunity to show I’m good enough to play international cricket again,” Tanveer said.

So a motivated fast bowler, whose great weapons are swing and yorkers, and a team high on confidence should make for a potent combination.

And Tanveer has a history of success in T20 cricket, playing a key role in the Rajasthan Royals’ triumph in the inaugural season of the IPL.

He was the leading wicket-taker in the competition and also hit the winning runs in a last-ball triumph in the final.

“It’s all about confidence. When a team is going well, nobody can stop you. In the IPL, we were one of the lowly teams and we did not have any really big names. But once we started winning, we beat all the teams with the big names.

“It’s all about the team combination, when you’re playing well as a team, it doesn’t matter who is coming up against you,” Tanveer said.

The Lions and Tanveer would seem to be a good fit for each other, and there is also the delicious prospect of two left-arm quicks opening the bowling with Australian Dirk Nannes already into the swing of things.

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