Tuesday 1 December 2009

2nd Test Build Up

The second match of The National Bank Test Series between Pakistan and New Zealand will be played from the 3rd of December till the 7th of December 2009 at Basin Reserve, Wellington. The match is scheduled to begin at 12:00 local, 23:00 GMT. New Zealand is leading the series by 1-0 after a fist match that contained plenty of excitement and come backs from both the sides, in the end it was Pakistan’s batting that couldn’t hold there nerve and were outclassed by the elegance of Shane Bond who was able to bag 8 scalps to earn himself the Man of the Match award.

The second test however will be played on an historic ground which hosted its first test match back in 1930. Pakistan Vs New Zealand first played on this ground in 1965, since then both the teams have faced each other 5 times with Pakistan having the upper hand of two wins and the Kiwis are yet to register a victory against the majestic lions at The Basin Reserve. There is a 10% chance of a rain and the temperatures will be around 10 to 15 Degree Celsius. Both the teams will have to play under overcast conditions with the fast bowlers enjoying themselves whereas the fielders will have a difficult time in overcoming the nippy weather. The strong cold breeze will provide great help for Pakistani pacers since they rely on reverse swing to get wickets.

Bond has been ruled out for the 2nd test due to a torn abdominal muscle and with him out of the equation the situation is tailor made for Pakistan to make a come back, Jesse Ryder is another injured member of the team that was sorely missed in the 1st test match but with Ross Taylor in great form the Kiwis has a slight advantage in batting department, Mohamad Yousuf has asked for Misbah Ul Haq to bolster the weak middle order and there is a fare chance that he might play in Wellington, there were rumors that the selectors has questioned his commitment after he backed out of the ongoing Quaid E Azam trophy to play in a Lucrative Bangladesh League, Misbah has just hit a career best of 284 in the Quaid E Azam trophy match against Lahore Shalimar but on a flat dead track after he was axed from all forms of the game. Shoaib Malik is more likely to be dropped from the match to accommodate Misbah Ul Haq. Saeed Ajmal bowled with great control in the first match but was unable to grab many wickets, he managed only two wickets in the match and now we can expect a toss-up between Kaneria and Ajmal for that spot. Pakistan may also make changes n the opening department which has been the story for a long time. Sarfaraz Ahmed is knocking the door for quite sometime now and can be tried as an opener, also it is important for Pakistan to hold on to there catches, the four dropped catches in the previous match made a great impact on the result of the match.

With more and more results being produce around the test cricket arena, it’s good to see test cricket back in action. Just like the previous 3 test matches played last week with Australia winning against West Indies, India beating Sri Lanka, and the mouth watering contest between New Zealand and Pakistan where New Zealand won by a close margin it is likely that this next contest will produce a good result due to the quality of bowlers that both these teams possess and the balance between them. Let’s hope for the rain to stay away.

Good Luck Pakistan.

My Starting XI for the 2nd Test match:

1. Sarfaraz Ahmed
2. Salman Butt
3. Mohammad Yousuf
4. Misbah Ul Haq
5. Umar AKmal
6. Fawad Alam
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Mohammad Aamer
9. Umar Gul
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Mohammad Asif

By HR

12 comments:

Abdullah said...

Usman Qadir and Azeem Ghumman are 2 huge prospects for Pakistani cricket. They are both very talented U19 players.

Azeem is a batsmen and captain of the U19 national side.

Qadir is the son of guess who ? Yes Abdul ! He is a leg spinner and good left hand bat.

Abdullah said...

Pakistan I would say are favourites to win the U19WC. I wish Azeem all the best in his teams mission.

Abdullah said...

Ahmed Shehzad is also U19.

Abdullah said...

HR,what ur views ?

Abdullah said...

HR, app ki views kia hea ?

HR said...

Yah they started there campaign quite well against Bangladesh in the trination a series important ahead of the WC, defending 211 was a tough task but Usman Qadir played really well by taking 3 wickets, Pakistanis play well when they are young but when they gets to Malik's age they loose there focus for some unknown reasons. Lets hope we find a new Umar Akmal among them, we need to monitor the U19 boys & how they perform. Is there any good opener among them Maz.

Abdullah said...

I'm confident of a result if the rain stays away.Shane Bond was a huge setback for the Kiwis.


Yousuf is not going to bat at no3. He dislikes the position HR bhai.Fawad should be given another chance.

We are missing Yk for his slip catching and illustrious well established batting.That is for sure.. He needs to be with the team b4 they go to Australia ? He can't logically expect to come back into the side like that after all what he's missed, can he ?

I don't understand Yk's mind. In fact I'm not sure most people do.

Abdullah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Abdullah said...

HR, Azeem Ghumman and Ahmed Shehzad are both openers.

So effectively two very good openers.

Abdullah said...

I expect Asif and Aamer to thrive in the overcast conditions.

Gul is by no means at his best. His stock delivery lacks "ooomth". His bouncer and yorker has always been a lethal weapon but his stock delivery is very much unknown. A good fluent stock delivery is key for a bowler in test cricket.

HR,when u doing MBA ? What subject ? Hows HRM ? I wish u the best.

Abdullah said...

If u don't wish to share that info please email at you know what adress.

HR said...

I am on a break from studies after few months I will join MBA not yet decided about the subject, currently HRM is great I work & learn & i suggest that for you also, good luck for your exams.

Cricket:
Pakistan is thrashing the Lankan Lions in the U19 Babar Azam is close to a century score reads 158/2 in 35 overs, Azeem failed today but he will come back soon.

YK is a very strange person, he is a pathan & his tolerance level is very less, he is impatient in life, lets hope he comeback for the Australian tour which is going to happen for sure, Ijaz Butt's favorite player is YK & everyone knows the class of YK when it comes to batting & fielding, so lets hope he gets a call up soon.

Shoaib Malik should only be in ODIs even Inzi identified him as a specialist ODI player it will also be good for him to regain some form. Whereas Afridi should come into the test team & if you watch some of Afridi's wickets he gets them when the batsmen tries to defend.

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