Cricket: Black Caps in cruise control

Ross Taylor's partnership with Grant Elliott was crucial to New Zealand's win. Photo / Getty Images

Pakistan's mercurial nature make them hard to dominate but New Zealand sustained control last night for all but the blip of a Shahid Afridi batting cameo in their seven-wicket victory.

The key partnership came for the fourth wicket between Ross Taylor (59 off 81 balls) and Grant Elliott (64 off 68). The pair quelled the bounce of 2.16m Mohammad Irfan and used their feet deftly to spinners Shahid Afridi and Haris Sohail to produce an unbeaten 112-run partnership.

Taylor's anchoring role was a credit to his professionalism and Elliott's international redemption continued to impress. The partnership began with a few squirts, nicks and jabs but they survived by rotating the strike and demonstrating the maturity required to contend at the World Cup.

Earlier, Martin Guptill stared down adversity to post 39 from 48 balls and lay the foundations for the chase.

The crowd willed him on with the cheering escalating as his innings blossomed. As he exited, the cacophony suggested he had earned his way back on to the radar of public adulation.

On Friday, coach Mike Hesson spoke of avoiding a "headmaster's office" culture for anyone with brittle form. Guptill is a beneficiary of such an iron-willed endorsement. His fielding contribution of three catches and saves within the 30m circle were also valuable. Tom Latham could take solace from his 23 batting at No3. The contribution sufficed, especially after he apparently came into the side for Kane Williamson 10 minutes before the start after Williamson's tender left shoulder saw him take a rest.

For all their inconsistency, Pakistan lead the list of teams you'd prefer not to meet in a World Cup playoff. For instance, Afridi might bat at No8 but it's hard to think of a more entertaining batsman to watch in the limited-overs formats.

Pakistan were flailing at 127 for six when he arrived.

But there's a reason he's earned the pseudonym Boom! Boom! Deliveries started disappearing to all parts as he dominated a partnership of 71 with Misbah-ul-Haq. The baseball-style pinstripes in the Pakistani uniform seemed appropriate as three balls cleared the rope and nine others reached the boundary, courtesy of his chutzpah.

Afridi scored 62 runs, Misbah six and extras three in their innings-rectifying stand. No wonder Misbah felt compelled to slog to deep mid-wicket for 58 from 87 off Elliott, New Zealand's most successful bowler with three for 26 from 4.3 overs.

Afridi finished with 67 off 29 but his contribution was a distraction from a respectable New Zealand bowling performance.

The match offered Kyle Mills, Trent Boult and a returning Adam Milne the chance to stake a claim to a more permanent World Cup spot and each presented a solid case.

Mills was relentless, finishing by the 22nd over with figures of 2-29, having avoided contact with Afridi. A fully-fit Milne eased into his workload, clocking speeds in the low 140km/h range and his 1-43 was inflated by the wrath of Afridi in his latter overs. Boult showed skill with 2-25 from nine overs. Nathan McCullum received an opportunity at the expense of Daniel Vettori and bowled his opening five overs steadily for 22 runs before Afridi tonked his sixth.

Corey Anderson was another wrong-place-wrong-time bowler, going for 47 from his six but he secured the wickets of Sarfraz Ahmed and Haris Sohail who exited to the theme of Ghostbusters in a nod to claims of a supernatural experience at a Christchurch hotel last week.