nz clinch series as pak fall on 207

new Zealand capped a hard-fought tour of the UAE with a commanding win in the final match to take the ODI series against Pakistan 3-2. The Tests and T20 internationals had been tied 1-1 each. New Zealand had trailed in both those contests, as they did twice in the one-dayers before resiliently rebounding with victories.

Kane Williamson led with the bat again, along with Ross Taylor, as New Zealand posted a stiff total on a slow pitch and the fast bowler Matt Henry blew away the Pakistan top order on his way to a maiden international five-wicket haul. Pakistan had come within a couple of hits of chasing down 300 in the fourth ODI but they fell well short of the target of 276 as their poor record in series-deciders over the past decade continued.
Pakistan's top order had failed to fire throughout the series barring the third match. The trend continued as the express duo of Henry and Adam Milne troubled the batsmen again. Nasir Jamshed failed to review a poor leg-before decision fifth ball of the chase. Younis Khan was caught behind down the leg side trying to work a short ball fine.
Williamson held back his key fast bowlers and introduced himself and Anton Devcich to share the fifth bowler's quota. Forget putting pressure on the part-timers, Pakistan managed 1 for 40 from the 11 overs they bowled. The first boundary of the innings came in the 11th over, and the second arrived only in the 25th.
After Asad Shafiq went leg-before to Devcich, Shehzad found a stable partner in Haris Sohail and two forged a steady 69-run partnership. Shehzad had been reprieved twice, once on 17 when New Zealand did not review a plumb lbw and then on 43 when the keeper Luke Ronchi dropped him, Devcich the bowler to suffer both times. Shehzad gradually found his touch and was timing the ball well as he moved past his fifty, only to gift his wicket away with 169 needed from 22 overs. Henry returned and bowled it short. Shehzad mis-hit it straight to midwicket.

Kane Williamson was at it again with a 97 © AFP

Umar Akmal too found midwicket soon off Nathan McCullum and though Sohail carried on and made 65, the asking-rate demanded too much of him. Henry settled it with the wickets of Sarfraz Ahmed and Shahid Afridi as Pakistan were dismissed in the 44th over.
Williamson bowled five of those for only 18 runs after winning the toss and making his eighth fifty-plus score in ten ODI innings to finish with 346 runs for the series, the most on either side. Ross Taylor accelerated to hit an unbeaten 88 as New Zealand posted 275. The total was 24 short of what New Zealand had barely defended in the fourth ODI but the pitch also played slower than it had two days ago.
Afridi capped a strong all-round series for a return of 1 for 33 but Pakistan conceded 85 in the last ten overs. New Zealand followed the same policy they had on Wednesday with Williamson leading the build-up through the middle overs.
Williamson first partnered with Dean Brownlie for a 66-run stand after Martin Guptill fell early to Mohammad Irfan's steep bounce. Afridi and Sohail kept Williamson and Taylor in check, carrying on from the initial discipline of Irfan and Anwar Ali. Afridi especially was hard to get away with his quickish deliveries on a tight line mixed up with flighted ones.
New Zealand went without a boundary for ten overs at the start and then for 12 overs in the middle stages. Both times, Williamson broke the drought. The lofted shot over extra cover against the spinners came easily to him again.
Taylor was not comfortable at the start and took his time, his first boundary coming only off his 47th delivery, a tickle to fine leg for four. He did not get stuck, though, and drove Irfan down the ground to reach his fifty off 67 deliveries as New Zealand took 35 off the batting Powerplay.
New Zealand were well placed going into the slog with Williamson and Taylor having added 100-plus. Afridi had a couple of overs left, though, and he removed Williamson in his last, the New Zealand captain top-edging a sweep to the wicketkeeper to depart three short of his hundred. Taylor brought out his slog-sweep and connected a few boundaries off Zulfiqar Babar to make sure New Zealand finished strongly. Henry and his fellow bowlers did the rest

Pakistan Cricket Team To Wear Black Arm Bands To Show Solidarity With The Peshawar Attack Victims

The players from both teams will also observe a minute’s silence before the start of the ODI. 

On Tuesday morning, terrorists stormed an army-run school in the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwan, Pakistan. The gunmen took the school children and teaching staff hostage for almost eight hours until the country’s armed forces killed all the attackers in firefight. The attack left 125 children, 9 teachers, and the school principal dead.

The Pakistan cricket team sorrowfully reacted to the grieve development. Within two hours’ time the team manager and chief selector Moin Khan issued a statement condoling the victims.
The stand-in Captain Shahid Afridi talking to PakPassion.net said, “It’s sad what’s happened in Peshawar. Our prayers are with the families who lost their kids. I hope the situation will get better in Pakistan.” He further added, “Anything that happens in our country deeply saddens us, whether we are in Pakistan or away. Ever since we heard this news, we were saying that it should not have happened. We hope the situation gets better but also hope that all those who have the responsibility will improve the situation.”
The cricket commentators and the cricketers all around the world sympathized with the victims of the Peshawar school attack and urged the citizens of Peshawar to donate blood.

ahmed and afridi made highest total in sharjah

The personality of Pakistan's batting line-up is a gripping study and the chapter that was added in Sharjah could well be a blueprint of how to build an ODI innings. The primary ingredient was a firm century from Ahmed Shehzad and it was supplemented by a stroke-filled fifty from stand-in captain Shahid Afridi as Pakistan rocketed to 364 for 7 - their third-highest total in 50-over cricket and the highest in Sharjah in 218 matches. New Zealand slipped and slid and finally succumbed for 217, beaten with almost 12 overs left.

Pakistan's batsmen were intent on warding off those loose shots that frustrate them and their fans so badly. There was a determined effort to collect singles, which hindered the bowlers' chances of building pressure. Each of the first three partnerships added more than 50 runs to the score with Shehzad being the common denominator. But whatever Pakistan do, there just has to be a see-sawing of fortunes.

Birthday boy Matt Henry took out Shehzad for 113 and Asad Shafiq the very next ball with the score on 210 in the 38th over, but Pakistan managed to circumvent those setbacks thanks to an enterprising partnership between Afridi and Haris Sohail. They added 89 runs in 46 balls and on that steam Pakistan made 125 runs in the last 10 overs. 

The only period of play when New Zealand managed to threaten the target was when Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson were together. Both batsmen seemed highly conscious of not letting scoreboard pressure dictate their strokeplay and they trusted their strength - Taylor his power and Williamson his footwork - to collect their runs. But the end of their union was rather symbolic of how things had been for New Zealand all day.

Taylor, who had showed immense skill cutting from the stumps, was bowled while attempted to do so by an Afridi slider. Tom Latham, too, added to the imagery when his beloved slog sweep found deep square leg to gift Shehzad his first ODI wicket. Pakistan gambled with Sohail's part-time left-arm spin and got three wickets, including Williamson.

No batsman could reach fifty. No partnership could reach fifty. New Zealand had been run over by a stampede in the first innings and just could not recover. Afridi could not hide his smile as it became apparent that victory was only a matter of time. He barely put a foot wrong, right from the toss which he won and watched his batsmen take full advantage.

Having been ruffled by pace previously in the series, Pakistan's strategy was to take on the short ball and an easy-paced pitched helped their endeavor. They also did not need to deal with Adam Milne, the fastest of New Zealand's bowlers and also one of the more injury-prone, rested. Every batsman was keen to pull and Shehzad managed to find the middle of the bat even off the front foot. Midwicket was his most productive area and the pull, his most productive shot.

Shehzad's poise at the crease was striking, so much that at times he was able to hit a selection of his 14 boundaries without much footwork. The four he drilled through point to reach his fifty was set up by shifting his weight onto a rather stationary back foot. He showed off his balance when he ran down the pitch as well, and on one such occasion he heaved a length ball clean out of the stadium in the 20th over. Nathan McCullum, who was brought in place of Daniel Vettori, could only watch.

His constant search for singles - he found 41 of them - facilitated a strike rate just under a-run-a-ball. At times, he wanted a single where there wasn't one and did have a couple of run-out scares. On other occasions he would question his partner when they refused. It almost seemed like he would not accept anything less than a century, judging by how he stole two runs to a dab that barely went past the 30-yard circle at midwicket to move to 99. There are only three Pakistan openers - Saeed Anwar, Salman Butt and Rameez Raja - who have more hundreds than Shehzad's six.

A 63-run opening stand in 47 balls between Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez had laid the foundation and Afridi fancied himself. Pakistan had listed him down at No. 8 at the toss, but he strode out at No. 5 ahead of the returning Umar Akmal and the red-hot Sarfraz Ahmed. Twenty-five balls of calculated carnage followed. Mis-timed belts sailed over midwicket and square leg, slices pinged to the point and cover boundaries and the straight hits were typically emphatic. By the time he skewed a catch to mid-off, he had made 55 weighty runs to keep a sensational trend alive - he had made 124 of 385 and 102 of 371 in the only two higher totals that Pakistan have made in ODIs.

New Zealand wilted so badly that only one bowler - McCullum - went at under six an over, their over-rate slumped owing to 19 extras and the ball constantly disappearing to the boundary. Their preoccupation with the ticking clock coincided with Sarfraz and Sohail Tanvir caning 22 runs off the final over bowled by Corey Anderson to put the cherry on top.

pakistan jersey back in action after 1992 worldcup

Cricket’s world cup tournament is all set to begin within next 65 days in Australia and New Zealand. This World Cup is said to be of great significance for the Pakistani cricket team as it will be played on the same ground where under the captaincy of Imran Khan, Pakistan lifted its first and only World Cup trophy.

In honor of this occasion, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to bring back the same jersey used in the 1992 World Cup worn by the Green-Shirts 22 years ago.

According to media reports, The ICC has announced that the Replica Playing Shirt has been designed to commemorate the 1992 ICC Cricket World Cup which was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The shirt replicates the jersey worn by the Pakistan players during the 1992 World Cup.

Pakistan team coach Waqar Younis has high hopes for the 2015 World Cup, saying the green-shirts have all it needs to win the World Cup 2015.

nz look to fight back

Big picture

Pakistan broke their five-match losing streak with a thrilling win over New Zealand in Dubai. The bigger gain though, according to captain Misbah-ul-Haq, was the success of Haris Sohail's part-time left-arm spin as Pakistan look for options for the sixth bowler's slot, following Mohammad Hafeez's ban.

Hafeez's suspension, coming soon after Saeed Ajmal's suspension, has left Pakistan's combination for the series and the World Cup a little uncertain, and the side is actively exploring its options with batsmen who can bowl. With Hafeez likely to leave after the second ODI, to work on remodeling his action, Pakistan will have another vacant slot in their XI open for experimentation. The challenge for Pakistan - who have had an erratic year in terms of ODI results - will be to ensure that they keep winning and gain some momentum before the World Cup despite the experiments. 

The batting innings of both teams followed similar trajectories in the last game. While Misbah brushed off Pakistan's top-order stutter as "an off day", New Zealand's top order was missing Martin Guptill. In the field, New Zealand were done in by the level-headed stand between Shahid Afridi and Haris Sohail, and Nathan McCullum later said the side had missed "a key moment" when they failed to keep Pakistan's chase in check.

Ahead of the second ODI, however, the side received a boost when Kane Williamson was cleared to resume bowling in international cricket, enhancing the side's spin options in conducive conditions. A 0-1 scoreline has become a familiar sight for New Zealand on this tour but they have shown the tenacity to fight back. They levelled the Test series with an innings victory a few weeks ago and Kane Williamson was hopeful some of that confidence would rub off on the vastly different ODI side.

Form guide

(most recent first, completed matches only)
Pakistan WLLLL
New Zealand LLLWW

In the spotlight

	Jimmy Neesham's highest score on the tour has been 11 © Getty Images Enlarge

Jimmy Neesham has faced a dip in batting form since New Zealand's tour to the West Indies earlier this year. He made 16 and 10 in the ODIs against South Africa in October and his highest score on this tour has been 17. Ross Taylor's century carried New Zealand in the last game but if the top order fails, runs from Neesham will be crucial.

Pakistan experimented with Sarfraz Ahmed's batting order in the first ODI, pushing him down to No. 7. He scored only 26 but his resourceful innings revived a flagging chase, and provided Haris Sohail and Shahid Afridi the launching pad for their match-winning stand. He could return to the top order after Hafeez leaves the squad but for this game, Pakistan could look at keeping his batting position flexible.

Team news

Martin Guptill missed the first game due to a hamstring niggle while Corey Anderson was rested as a precautionary measure after being hit on the helmet during the first T20. Their fitness will be assessed on the morning of the game.

New Zealand (probable) 1 Anton Devcich, 2 Dean Brownlie, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Adam Milne/Matt Henry

Pakistan are likely to opt for an unchanged XI but if they do change their XI, it could be in the bowling line-up with Sohail Tanvir possibly coming in in place of Umar Gul.

Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Haris Sohail, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Mohammad Irfan

Pitch and conditions

The Sharjah pitch is known for high scores but during the last game that Pakistan played there - against Australia in October - it also offered help for the spinners. Williamson said that the track during the Test series was devoid of grass but had more pace and bounce than the other venues. Teams winning the toss and batting have won 66 of the 125 matches played at the venue.

Stats & trivia

• New Zealand's highest opening stand in 11 ODIs in 2014 is 56 - between Martin Guptill and Jesse Ryder against West Indies in January 2014. New Zealand's opening batsmen have had only two half-century stands in 2014 compared to Pakistan, who have had five, including a century partnership
• The most successful chase at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium was the 285 for 4 by West Indies against Pakistan, way back in November 1993
• Pakistan and New Zealand have played ten ODIs in Sharjah, with Pakistan winning all ten. Pakistan have not won more than five ODIs against New Zealand at any other venue.

Quotes

"Given the conditions our fast bowlers did well in the first game despite little support from the pitch, and I hope they continue to bowl like that."
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq

"There will be some good memories for some of the lads, but it is important we focus on what lies in front of us and the Pakistan side is quite different as well, so all those challenges need to be considered."
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson on the influence of the Sharjah Test on the current side

Pakistan have the potential to win World Cup, says Waqar

SHARJAH: Pakistan team head coach Waqar Younis has high hopes for the 2015 World Cup, saying the green-shirts have all it needs to win the extravaganza.

“We are all excited about the mega event as it is the game’s top event and everyone has their eyes on the trophy so why not us? We are trying to take this belief in the dressing room. We have the potential, we have the talent and the skills; it’s just about putting it all together and coping with the pressure,” Waqar said in an interview.
Pakistan beat New Zealand by three wickets in the opener of the five-match ODI series in Dubai last Monday.
The second ODI will be played in Sharjah on Friday.
“We were very lucky in the 1990s when we had Shoaib Akhtar bowling and later on, also to some extent Umar Gul who was also bowling fast,” Waqar added.
“In recent times, we have Wahab Riaz who bowls briskly but as I said, you have to be disciplined. You cannot go out there and try and bowl 150kph and go all over the place as control is crucial,” Waqar, a veteran of 87 Tests and 262 ODIs, underlined.

Speaking about tall pacer Mohammad Irfan, Waqar said with a 7’1” height, the bowler has the ability to deliver some unplayable deliveries and the prospect of this bowler helping Pakistan to glory in the upcoming 2015 World Cup has not escaped the attention of the Pakistan team management.
“Irfan is 7’ 1” and it is very easy to break down when you are that tall and with his structure,” Waqar said adding the World Cup is around the corner and Irfan has the X-factor that Pakistan need in him.
“The cricketers who played cricket during the 1990s should come forward and help Pakistan cricket come up and improve its standing,” urged Waqar.
“It is great that Moin Khan is around with Mushtaq Ahmed, Ijaz Ahmed and Mohammad Akram. They understand the demands of modern game and can help the Pakistan team reach its full potential,” Waqar stated.