One Day International Series – Black Caps batsmen need to refocus head of second Pakistan match

One Day International Series Odds:

New Zealand vs. Pakistan

Friday, November 6, 5.30am

Pakistan –200
New Zealand +160

New Zealand and Pakistan have a lot in common, which makes this one day international series an interesting tussle on paper and on the field.

Despite the obvious similarities – both teams have the letter n in their name, they both have a 12 nautical mile maritime claim territory off their coast, both suffer from earthquakes and both countries have neighbours that are pains in the backside and neighbours they would rather not known and disown (Afghanistan for Pakistan and Australia for New Zealand).

These two cricketing nations have another thing in common – their propensity for batting collapses.

Along with the West Indies, Pakistan and New Zealand are the teams most likely to crumble under pressure.

The Black Caps resorted to their terrible old ways in the first match of this series with their middle order sans Daniel Vettori (38), throwing their wickets away, eight of their batsmen failing to reach double figures.

This year alone, New Zealand has failed to reach 200 a record 10 times in 22 matches. This included a demoralising 119 against Sri Lanka in September.

At Sheikh Zayed Stadium earlier this week chasing 287, the Kiwis went from 6/139 to all out for 149, the last four wickets going for just 109 runs.

Martin Guptill (4), Ross Taylor (0), Scott Styris (5) batsmen who have been around long enough to respect their wickets but more importantly respect their place in the national team failed dismally. Jacob Oram (9), Nathan McCullum (0), Ian Butler (4), Tim Southee (1) and Shane Bond (4no) followed suit.

Testament to Pakistan’s impeccable bowling attack, New Zealand never broke 4.83 runs an over in the chase. 

The spin twins of Saeed Ajmal (2/18 off 7.2 overs) and Shahid Afridi (2/46 off 10 overs) did well to contain the Kiwis but the damage was done at the top of the innings thanks to Mohammad Aamer.

At just 17-years-old, the left-arm quick took 1/15 off seven overs and showed plenty of potential bending the ball in the air at pace.

No stranger to the 80mph-plus delivery, Aamer has an open bowling action allowing to shape the ball away from the right handers and kept the top order guessing.

The thing about New Zealand however is their ability to bounce back and that is just what they will need to do in the second match if they want to prevent Pakistan from winning their first ODI series in almost 12 months.

It could have just been a case of unusual conditions or get lag from the trip but the Black Caps have showed this year that they can match it with the best of them and if they want to snag fourth spot on the ICC rankings then they need to man up against Pakistan.

Just four points adrift of fourth spot should be inspiration enough to put up more of a challenge than what they did in the first match.