Pakistan and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 to meet in crucial third ODI
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and New Zealand will go head-to-head at Christchurch in the third one-day international (ODI) of the six-match ODI series on Saturday (tomorrow). The home team leads the series 1-0.
There have been many mixed performances from both teams during the tour until now. The Twenty20 series was won by the Kiwis by a 2-1 margin whereas Pakistan was victorious in the Test series by 1-0. The start to the ODI series was not promising for the visitors,
as New Zealand crushed them by nine-wickets in the first match at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wellington-c864. The second match at Queenstown was abandoned due to rain after only 4.2 overs of play.
The home team will be more confident after their good show in the first match. There will be several changes made in the team for the next match following the team’s rotation policy. Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori will be rested for the third ODI, and Luke
Woodcock will replace him in the team. The team will be led by vice-captian Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915.
The flamboyant opening batsman, Jesse Ryder will also not feature in the upcoming match, and will be replaced by youngster Kane Williamson. However, Williamson is not expected to be a part of the playing-11, as Jamie How will partner Martin Guptill at the
top of the order. Ryder was impressive in the first game of the series with his blistering half-century. Apart from Ryder and Vettori, all-rounder James Franklin will also not be with the team for the next match. He will be replaced by Kyle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321.
The rotation will be done in order to give match-practice to all the players who will be a part of the 2011 World Cup, starting from 19 February. The Kiwi team will be hoping that their bowlers repeat the performance of the first game and don’t allow the
Pakistan team to score too many runs. They will still have their youngsters, Hamish Bennett and Tim Southee, who took eight wickets out of the 10 in the first match.
There will also be a lot of expectations from stand-in captain Taylor, who averages above fifty as captain. The Kiwi team also has some world-class all-rounders like Jacob Oram and Scott Styris, who will be looking forward to hit some form ahead of the mega
event.
On the other hand, the Pakistani team seems to be mired in controversy. There will be a lot of pressure on their captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, to perform and retain his job as the leader of the team for the World Cup.
Afridi will be expecting some assistance from the senior pros http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 and Younis Khan to lift the morale of the team and get back to winning ways. There are also some exciting young players in the team like Asad Shafiq and Ahmed Shehzad, who have the
potential to perform at the highest level.
However, the main strength of the team remains their bowling. The team has a very sound pace-attack and there are also some quality spinners in the team as well who can win matches.
It is high time for the big-guns to fire for Pakistan and get some confidence ahead of the World Cup. Both teams are well balanced and an intense competition can be expected from them in tomorrow’s encounter.
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