Tag: Mohammad Hafeez

Cricket: Seamers and Williamson help NZ level series

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New Zealand broke their Sharjah duck overnight after defeating Pakistan by 4 wickets to square the one day international series.  Having lost their previous ten matches in Sharjah, the Black Caps needed a calm Kane Williamson – who scored his sixth half century in his last seven matches – to see them over the line.  Chasing 253 for victory the pursuit got off to the best possible start when Anton Devcich (58) and Dean Brownlie (47) eased the concerns hanging over the openers to put on 103 for the first wicket.  Despite the start, New Zealand still needed their captain Williamson’s nous to get them hoe in the 46th over.  Amongst a middle order collapse that saw Ross Taylor miss out on a fourth consecutive hundred, Williamson held firm and after watching several middle order colleagues throw wickets away, found able support from Luke Ronchi (36).  Ronchi’s rapid cameo helped to ease any lingering doubt in the New Zealand camp and quickly put the result beyond doubt as the gap between us needed and balls remaining widened.

Williamson shouldn’t take all the praise however.  The Black Cap’s seamers also played their part taking all ten wickets in Pakistan’s innings.  Matt Henry and Mitchell McClenaghan were the chief destroyers albeit in different circumstances.  Henry (4-45) took the bulk of his wickets at the top of the order helping dismiss four of the top six and reducing Pakistan to 20/3 at one stage.  McClenaghan, notwithstanding the early wickets of Younis Khan (he got him twice, once off a no-ball) took his wickets at the end of the innings to finish with 3-56.

Pakistan will rue their inability to kick on from handy starts.  Of their batsmen to cross 14 (there were 7 of them) only Mohammad Hafeez (76) passed 50.  That left Shahid Afridi (27 from 14) with too much to do, and while he made a decent fist of it striking big blows off both Henry and Milne, he couldn’t sustain the attack and joined the others in failing to see out the allotted overs.

Haris Sohail was once again a big plus for the number four ranked ODI team with wickets and runs.  He made 33 and took 3-48 in another fine all-round display.  His efforts superseded Corey Anderson’s efforts as New Zealand’s all-rounder worries worsened, and helped mitigate the impact from Hafeez’s bowling ban.

A quick turnaround sees Sharjah host game three on Sunday.  Of particular note are the potential injuries to Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq.

New Zealand 255 for 6 (Williamson 70, Devcich 58, Haris 3-48) beat Pakistan 252 (Hafeez 76, Misbah 47, Henry 4-45) by four wickets

Cricket: One-dayers a chance to separate sides

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Rounding out a long tour for the New Zealand cricket team is a five match ODI series in which both sides will continue to look for World Cup momentum.  Especially for Pakistan, this series is the best opportunity to tinker with line-ups and settle on a game plan that will transfer easily to the pitches and grounds of NZ.  One of the tactics will be the continue used of wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed at the top of the order.  Since the days of Kamran Akmal, Pakistan are used to their keeper taking up a spot in the top three, and if Sarfraz’s T20 form is anything to go by, this could be a permanent spot for the destructive right hander.

The Last Time These Two Met

The Test and T20 series’ between the two have been drawn so fans will be hoping for something a little more decisive in the one day series.  In both formats NZ have fallen behind after game one only to rest initiative back in subsequent matches.  Bookmaker.com have understandably listed Pakistan as favourites.

The Teams

New Zealand (likely): 1 Anton Devcich, 2 Kane Williamson (capt), 3 Dean Brownlie, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk), 7 James Neesham, 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Adam Milne/Nathan McCullum, 10 and 11 Matt Henry/Kyle Mills/Mitchell McClenaghan

Martin Guptil is unavailable for the Black Caps.  Corey Anderson will be assessed closer to game time, and I’ve bracketed every bowler in the squad because of the wealth of options available to the NZ selection panel.

Pakistan (likely): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk) , 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Zulfiqar Babar, 11 Mohammad Irfan

Umar Gul could play his first one day international cricket since March after a strong showing in the second T20 contest.

The Key Players

Ross Taylor – Aside from some strong performances for Royal Challengers Bangalore in early IPL editions, Taylor has struggled for T20 cricket runs.  He is much more comfortable in the one day game where he can pace himself and anchor an innings, so will look fondly upon the start of the one day series.  After just one notable innings in the test series and two failures in the T20 series NZ will be looking to their former captain for big runs.  He’s paying $4.50 to top score.

Mohammad Hafeez – How Hafeez deals with a bowling ban makes for an interesting aside to the series opener.  The all-rounder has been handed down a suspension until he remedies his action, and despite not considering himself much of a bowler, he will still need to ensure he’s in the right head space to continue to make runs at the top of the order.  Despite the potentially impairment, Bookmaker.com.au has him at

The Odds*

Pakistan – $1.53

New Zealand– $2.50

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Bookmaker.com.au.

The Prediction

It’s very hard to look past Pakistan.  They are loving a game one win against the Black Caps.  But if I was feeling lucky I would have a cheeky bet on New Zealand winning the series at $3.25.

Cricket: New Zealand secure surreal record-breaking win

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In a match delayed and deeply affected by the loss of Phil Hughes, New Zealand played with the kind of freedom that coincided with the feeling that there is more to life than cricket.   Led by their imaginative and aggressive captain Brendon McCullum, the Black Caps played their cricket without pressure, rather with fun as the predominant aim.

The result was a startling display of record breaking batting feats, even after losing a crucial toss and being well behind after the first days play. New Zealand’s innings and 80 run win was built around a monumental first innings effort of 690. The total, New Zealand’s best ever, featured massive hundreds to McCullum (202) and Kane Williamson (192), and half-centuries to Ross Taylor (50), Corey Anderson, Mark Craig (65), and Tim Southee (50). It was an emphatic response to Pakistan’s first innings of 351, which for all intents and purposes should have been even better considering their position of 281-3 at the end of the first day’s cricket.

The returning Mohammad Hafeez, who scored 197, spearheaded Pakistan’s effort when the majority of his colleagues fell for the guise of left-armer Mark Craig. Craig’s 7-94 is comfortably his best bowling figures in Test cricket; the figures also overshadowed the return of Daniel Vettori, who managed a solitary wicket in each innings.

New Zealand’s emphatic response to losing the first test and drawing the second was to pepper the boundary while scoring at just under 5 runs per over in their first dig (in fact, NZ managed their largest number of innings boundaries in their short test cricket history). McCullum’s positivity was undoubtedly at the heart of that response (he managed 21 4’s and 11 6’s in his knock) and obviously contagious amongst the other players as they began the task of taking ten wickets on the flat deck.

Trent Boult was the catalyst for the ten Pakistan wickets that fell on day four and completed NZ’s victory. His opening spell of 3-19 was menacing as it was skillful and removed any chance Pakistan had of holding out for a draw. Only Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed offered anything resembling fight, and even there efforts include luck and endeavour rather than resistance.

The cricket test will be remembered not necessarily for the fantastic individual performances that were abundant in each of the teams turns at bat, but for the spirit in which it was played. Throughout the game, very few bouncers were bowled, wickets were not celebrated, and tributes flowed for a fallen superstar.

New Zealand 690 (McCullum 202, Williamson 192, Rahat 4-99) beat Pakistan 351 (Hafeez 197, Craig 7-94) and 259 (Shafiq 137, Boult 4-38) by an innings and 80 runs.