By RICHARD BOOCK
A malfunctioning scoreboard almost robbed Craig McMillan of his greatest moment in one-day cricket.
The 24-year-old right-hander blazed the country's equal-fastest century as New Zealand beat Pakistan by 138 runs in the fourth one-day international at Christchurch yesterday, levelling the series 2-all.
McMillan's unbeaten 104 off 75 balls equalled the mark set by Chris Cairns two summers ago against India, and is the equal 12th-fastest in history.
McMillan reached the milestone in a dramatic last over in which 24 runs were scored, including three sixes. But the century was almost missed because the broken-down scoreboard and a misinterpreted ground announcer's message had McMillan - on 97 after the fourth ball of the last over - thinking he had already reached it.
After a quick bat-waving celebration, he reverse-swept the next ball for a single, which would have left him stranded on 98 had off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq not managed to finish his over with two no-balls.
This enabled him to get back on strike and smash the eventual last ball of the innings over mid-wicket for six, bringing up his first century in 83 ODIs.
"Harry [Chris Harris] told me I'd got a hundred, but I found out later the ground announcer was talking about our 100 partnership, not my score," he said.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have been quite so expressive.
"I thought I'd blown it, that I was destined to be stuck on 98. But then Saqlain bowled a couple of no-balls and I had another chance."
McMillan brought up his 12th one-day 50 off 50 balls and blasted his second 50 - 19 of them in the last over - off only 25.
"It was pretty weird," McMillan said, when asked about batting without a scoreboard. "At times we didn't know what we were on, or how things were progressing, so it was a bit unnerving.
"I was wondering when I was going to get a century because it's been a while. But I've had more chances lately. I've seen more of the bowling, and there's been more opportunities to reach three-figures."
The decider will be played on Wednesday.
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