New Zealand beat Pakistan by 39 runs in second Twenty20 cricket international at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Tuesday to take a winning 2-0 lead in their best-of-three Twenty20 series.

Man-of-the-match Nathan McCullum took four for 16 off his four overs while debutant Luke Woodcock took none for 20 and at the close of their innings Pakistan were 146 for nine.

The final match is at Christchurch on Thursday night.

NEW ZEALAND: 185-7 (Martin Guptill 44, James Franklin 40, Scott Styris 34; Saeed Ajmal 3-35)
PAKISTAN: 146-9 (Mohammad Hafeez 46; Nathan McCullum 4-16; Tim Southee 2-26)