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