New Zealand and Pakistan all set to take on each other
Pakistan and New Zealand are all set to feature in the two match Test series starting from tomorrow at Hamilton. Both the teams have already played a Twenty20 series and will be playing a six-match ODI (One Day International) series afterwards.
Pakistan will be looking forward to improve on their batting form as they have been struggling to get runs in the bouncy conditions of New Zealand. The team lost the first three matches on the tour including one warm-up game and two Twenty20 internationals
against the home team. The men in green will be feeling a bit more confident after a strong comeback in the final Twenty20 and the side match against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 11. Bowling has always been the strength for Pakistan but the suspension of Mohammad Amir
and Mohammad Asif has cost them badly. The team will mainly rely on Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir to trouble the Kiwi batsmen. Pakistan also has a couple of good spinners in the team but Saeed Ajmal may not be a part of the team, as he came back to Pakistan to
attend his father’s funeral. Pakistan did well in the recent Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in UAE but that was in batting friendly conditions. The team will be relying heavily on former captain Younis Khan, who has been unable to make an impact so far on
the tour.
The other batsman who is capable of leading the team is http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972. He is also the current Test captain and will be confident of a good Test series following some positive results in UAE. Compared to Pakistan, the Kiwi team has a slightly weaker bowling
attack. The team will be looking forward to Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin to perform with the ball in order to give a fight to Pakistan. New Zealand had a terrible series in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 where the team lost all the ODI matches played in the series. However, the
team did well in the Test series by drawing two matches. The series was eventually lost by New Zealand after the team collapsed in the third and final Test.
The home conditions may help the Kiwi team to get their confidence back. They will welcome Brendon McCullum who scored a double ton in the side match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. McCullum was out of the Twenty20 series along with Daniel Vettori. Both the senior players
had back injuries. They performed well for New Zealand 11 against Pakistan, which is a positive sign for the team. Apart from McCullum, the team will be looking forward to Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 to perform. There are also some promising youngsters in the team like Bradley
Watling and Kane Williamson, who have done well at the domestic and international levels.
All in all, it will be a very interesting series. Both the teams will be eager to do well and win to head into the World Cup with a winning form. The competition will be intense as both the teams are evenly matched. The New Zealand cricket board will also
be hoping that the fans take interest in the series and the spot-fixing saga doesn’t affect the series.
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