Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

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Pakistan’s current test bowling is decent/good rather than outstanding but as always it is the batting which gives you the biggest headaches.

Will our besharam openers and middle-order bat with some discipline and organisation and show greater patience at the crease for a change?

And will the absence of Bond, MoM in the first test, greatly hamper New Zealand’s chances as they press for a rare test series victory against Pakistan? New Zealand have not beaten Pakistan in a Test series home or away, since 1984-85, when they won a series in New Zealand 2-0.

OVERALL this will be **Pakistan’s **342nd test match (won 103, lost 92) and New Zealand’s 355th game (won 67, lost 142)

**Start time: **12:00 (23:00 GMT)

Pitch & Weather: Rain is expected to disrupt the Test on the first three days and it will be windy throughout, hardly the kind of ‘home’ weather Pakistan would have wanted. The teams have been practising indoors.

Head to Head: Out of previous 46 test matches between the two sides Pakistan has won 21 and lost 7 against New Zealand

Recent Form: Pakistan LDLLD New Zealand WLLDD

Watch out for: Shane Bond’s injury has opened the door for Daryl Tuffey in the playing XI, and Tim Southee in the squad. Pakistan are probably Tuffey’s favourite opponents (24 of his 66 Test wickets have come against them, in six Tests), while Southee’s most recent first-class outing returned figures of 8 for 27

Probables:
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria/Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Asif.

New Zealand: Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Grant Elliott, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori (capt), Tim Southee/Daryl Tuffey, Ian O’Brien, Chris Martin.

Pakistan under pressure in special rivalry | Cricket News | New Zealand v Pakistan 2009-10 | Cricinfo.com

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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

Bond is a match winner, and his absence will surely hurt Kiwis. Remains to be seen if Pak XI can capitalize on that and level the series.

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The big question for tonight's match, who will open the innings for Pakistan.

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^ Butt & Aalam ?

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Yaar I know you are an Indian but even our worst enemies won’t wish Butt on us. :naraz:

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^ probably Salman Butt (reluctantly) and Shoaib Malik. The return of Misbah in the middle-order should (atleast in theory) enhance batting and also provide a safe pair of hands in slips cordon after a series of catching blunders in Dunedin, with four dropped by Imran Farhat alone

Saad Shafqat believes Malik who averages 42.60 in 7 tests as an opener should open the batting

Cricinfo - Blogs - Different Strokes - Why is Shoaib Malik not opening the batting?

The usual answer is that he doesn’t want to, but that is hardly good enough. After all, he’s an experienced professional. He has ability, depth, and a clever cricketing head. He can look opponents in the eye. Most important, he is playing in a team that has not found a successful opening pair in over a decade. Pakistan’s opening troubles have become so entrenched that the team mentally reduces itself to 10 for 2 even before the start of an innings.
If there is anything this team needs, it is an opener with a steady bat, and Malik has one. Out of 27 Tests played so far, he has opened the batting in seven, for an average of 42.60 in the opening slot that is a cut above his overall Test average of 37.57. Nor are these inflated figures: Malik has opened only against authentic opposition, including West Indies, England, India and Sri Lanka. His highest Test score of 148 not out was made as an opener in a defiant fourth innings against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Of the seven Tests in which Malik has opened, Pakistan have won three, drawn four, and never lost. Admittedly, a span of seven Tests is not much of a trend, but at the very least it is a good omen.
In ODIs too, Malik has fared better as an opener than lower down. Of his 167 ODI innings, 15 have been as an opener, with an average of 37.35 that compares favourably with his overall ODI batting average of 34.76. On three occasions he has opened against an associate nation, but the other matches have been against the likes of India, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand. Of his seven ODI hundreds, two have come as an opener (against New Zealand and India).
Indeed, Malik’s batting average as a Test opener is superior to the several other openers Pakistan have tried in the last few years, including Imran Farhat (32.26 from 28 Tests), Salman Butt (29.23 from 22 Tests), Taufeeq Umar (39.29 from 25 Tests), Khurram Manzoor (27.66 from six Tests), and Kamran Akmal (35.77 from six Tests).
And why else is he in the team, anyway? With Saeed Ajmal in the side, Malik’s offspin is redundant. Even if Ajmal gets replaced with Danish Kaneria for the Wellington Test, Malik’s spin will only be a back-up option.
On the other hand, here we are waking up with great anticipation at unearthly hours, only to find Pakistan with tormenting scorelines like 6 for 2. There is a gaping vacuum here and Malik should be man enough to fill it. He has been included in the team primarily as a batsman. It is only logical that he be used in the spot where not only has he performed the best, but also where his team needs him the most.

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Those stats from Saad Shafqat, I am wondering if Shoaib Malik opened all those times in Pakistan/Sharjah pitches or did he manage those overseas? I dont think he too can handle the swing bowling in NZ, specially with the new ball as opener.

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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

Okay, I just looked up his stats on Cricinfo…See batting position 1. Except 2 innings in West Indies, the rest batting 1 were all played in the subcontinent. So not much really to go by Saad Shafqat bhai.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | Cricinfo.com

13 64 40 2 0 32.50 1 caught 1 v West Indies Kingston 3 Jun 2005 Test # 1754
64 121 79 8 0 81.01 1 caught 3 v West Indies Kingston 3 Jun 2005 Test # 1754
39 116 71 5 0 54.92 1 lbw 1 v England Multan 12 Nov 2005 Test # 1770
18 29 21 2 0 85.71 1 caught 3 v England Multan 12 Nov 2005 Test # 1770
27 111 57 2 1 47.36 1 caught 1 v England Faisalabad 20 Nov 2005 Test # 1772
26 85 59 4 0 44.06 1 caught 3 v England Faisalabad 20 Nov 2005 Test # 1772
0 3 6 0 0 0.00 1 caught 2 v England Lahore 29 Nov 2005 Test # 1774
59 183 145 7 1 40.68 1 caught 1 v India Lahore 13 Jan 2006 Test # 1781
19 52 33 4 0 57.57 1 caught 1 v India Faisalabad 21 Jan 2006 Test # 1782
DNB - - - - - - - 3 v India Faisalabad 21 Jan 2006 Test # 1782
13 30 28 3 0 46.42 1 caught 2 v Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 26 Mar 2006 Test # 1794
148* 488 369 21 2 40.10 1 not out 4 v Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 26 Mar 2006 Test # 1794

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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

Compare Shoaib Malik to Asim Kamal for a slot in the middle order. Hands down, Asim Kamal should get the nod.

Asim Kamal stats:
Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | Cricinfo.com

The problem is, no one is listening in PCB. We can blog all we want. Even when Yousuf got appointed Captain for this NZ series, his first request was to get Misbah to fill in for Younis. The selectors didnt even listen to him. They said, we have an unusually large 17 member squad so we’ll wait and see their performance before deciding on Misbah’s inclusion. The writing was on the wall, but the PCB selectors are just unrealistic about the team they selected…some damad, bhanja without merit.

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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

^^Asim Kamal average 21.54 in 6 first class matches he played this season … with just one 50+ score…
Cricket Archive

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History is good but you have to look at current form and Asim’s current form just does not warrant a recall.

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I think Shoaib Malik and Aalam should open. Here should be our lineup IMO

  1. Aalam
  2. Malik
  3. Yousuf
  4. Misbah
  5. Faisal
  6. Umer Akmal
  7. Kamran Akmal
  8. Aamir
  9. Asif
  10. Gul
  11. Ajmal/Kaneria

DAMAD should not be even 12th man so that he can "pair dhoo ker pe" of his Suser and BV jee and beside that whoever will be 12th man, will drop less catches than DAMAD jee, I can bet on this

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Believe me they would have never selected him even if he was performing well in domestic. Pakistan Cricket Board is responsible for destroying a wonderful talent like Asim Kamal and they should be ashamed of it.

If they really want to bring someone based on domestic performance then I say bring Hasan Raza and play him as an opener. He is constantly scoring heavily in domestic. This season he hs scored approx. 600 runs at an average of 54+.

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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

Well the bloggers are driving atleast me crazy - Kamran Abbasi wants butt back - hunhhhhh???!!!
Kamran Abbassi - Pakspin - Bring Butt back

He talks about Misbah and butt - Misbah we all agree with - but Salman Butt :smack2:

Complete the shair (Poetry Game)
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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

According to jang, this pitch will seam and swing and will offer spin in latter part of the test. So problems for our openers whoever it maybe.

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Interestinly Jang is also reporting the 13 member squad for the 2nd test which has no spinner.

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yup and most probably tie b/w Misbah and Faisal .... i'll play both and drop one of the opener

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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

i would go for kaneria.........as NZ always struggles against the spinners

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omggggggg imran is playing hes not droppedddd omg omg omg

Timepass February 2015 _ Jashn e BaharaN
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Re: Pakistan v New Zealand 2nd Test, Wellington - Dec. 03-07, 2009

Damad is innnnnnnnnnn, they probably want to balance out Bond's exclusion from Kiwis team.