The pre-cup bilaterals are almost at an end. The endless warm up matches will soon be replaced by the real deal, the main event. Accordingly, game two between Pakistan and New Zealand at McClean Park is one of the final opportunities to fine tune games and plans before the pressure gets crippling.
Pakistan need the game more than New Zealand. The home side are well settled, in form and winning. The World Cup couldn’t come sooner for them. Pakistan on the other hand still need time to acclimatise. They need to experience a win (after losing game on and losing to a mediocre invitational side).
Napier’s game two day-nighter presents the perfect opportunity.
The Last Time These Two Met
Game one featured plenty of rust. Not the kind coming from the empty seat at the Cake Tin either. Mainly it was the evident rust of the paisan line-up that will be better for the blow out. Batting first Pakistan limped to just 210. That was only possible because of Shahid Afridi who struck 67 off just 29 balls. His strike rate was 231, the rest of the line-up’s was just 53.
New Zealand chased it comfortably. Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott guiding the chase with a pair of unbeaten half centuries. The only real interest in the second innings was who would top score between the two, a bet that came down to the last run.
The Teams
New Zealand (likely): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt), 3 Kane Williamson/Tom Latham, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk) , 7 Corey Anderson, 8 Nathan McCullum/Daniel Vettori, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Trent Boult
Kane Williamson’s shoulder is still not 100%, so it’s probable he’ll sit this one out again.
Pakistan (likely): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Bilawal Bhatti, 10 Mohammad Irfan, 11 Sohail Khan/Ehsan Adil
The fifth seamer is the troubling aspect of Pakistan’s squad with Haris Sohail expected to make up the bulk of the overs with the injuries to Wahab, Junaid – who has toady been ruled out of the World Cup.
The Key Players
Ross Taylor – We don’t generally like focusing on the same player over an over again, but Taylor’s record in Napier is simply too good to ignore. The Central Districts prospect played lots of his first class cricket at McLean Park and has subsequently carved out an amazing record on the batsman friendly ground. In 11 ODI’s at the ground, Taylor has scored 584 runs with 2 hundreds at an average of 73. Look for him to cash in again. Although, one anomaly, the only time he’s failed at the ground was against Pakistan in 2011.
Shahid Afridi – Afridi is building a handy little record against New Zealand of late. In the Abu Dhabi series Afridi played much more like a composed batsman and had an excellent series. He didn’t quite play in the same way on Saturday, reverting back to his old school Boom Boom approach, yet he still scored big runs. The small McClean Park could be ideal for his destructive game.
The Match Odds*
New Zealand – $1.40
Pakistan – $3.00
*Courtesy of Ladbrokes Australia.
The Prediction
Pakistan were predictably blown away by New Zealand’s seamers in game one, and while Napier isn’t expected to swing and seam as much New Zealand will still be too strong. Remember a pitch that assists Southee and Boult also assists Irfan – and thus Napier could nullify the threat of the giant quick.
The Longshot
Hard to go past Ross Taylor to top score. Even despite the Napier record, without Kane Williamson playing, Taylor’s a strong chance. He’s at $5.
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