Pakistan, New Zealand ready for a battle of pace at Wanderers

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: October 3, 2009

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Johannesburg: The stage is set for Pakistan and New Zealand to face-off in the second semi-final of the Champions Trophy in what is being expected to be a pacer friendly pitch at the Wanderers.

Four of the six matches played at the Wanderers in this tournament have been low-scoring affairs, with fast bowlers calling the shots on lively pitches having both pace and bounce. Pakistan are high on confidence after having performed well in all of their three games, beating arch-rivals India and the West Indies before losing a close match against defending champions Australia.

The Pakistan team is full of talented fast bowlers in Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif. Their spinners Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal have also been top notch so far in the tournament.

Pakistan captain Younus Khan conceded that he faces a selection dilemma ahead of the semi-final, especially after paceman Mohammad Asif’s impressive performance (2-34) against Australia. Asif, playing his first one-dayer after serving a one-year ban for a failed dope test, replaced teenager Aamer in the last game.

“It’ll be a tough call. We’ll try and make the right decision on the day,” Younus had said after the last match. “In the semi-final, it doesn’t matter who you play against or where you play because it is a big game. Pressure is not only on us, but also on New Zealand. If we get through two more games we are the champions.”

New Zealand, on the other hand, have won both their games at this venue beating Sri Lanka and England to make it to the semi-finals after coming to the tournament as the underdogs with no one expecting them to go beyond the first stage. They were well-served by seamer Grant Elliott who was named man of the match for bagging four wickets in his team’s victory over England in their last league game on Tuesday.

New Zealand also has a world class fast bowling attack in Kyle Mills and Shane Bond, who are capable of making life difficult for batsmen on helpful tracks. They will also be keen to better their performance in big matches, having fallen in the semi-finals of the 2006 Champions Trophy in India and the 2007 World Cup in Caribbean.

It will be the first one-day international between the two teams since October 2006 when New Zealand beat Pakistan in a league match of the same tournament’s last edition. New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill said that the team’s morale was high going into the match.

“Our confidence level is high at the moment,” said Guptill. “We are extremely confident of putting up a good performance in the semi-final against Pakistan. They are a very good side, but I think we are capable of matching them.”

Squads:

New Zealand (from): Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Ross Taylor, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Iain O’Brien, Aaron Redmond, James Franklin.

Pakistan (from): Younus Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal.

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Ian Gould (ENG)

TV umpire: Daryl Harper (AUS)

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)

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