Honours just about even.

New Zealand might disagree and bemoan the rain which ruined a likely march to victory over Pakistan yesterday - and their first significant series victory since beating the West Indies three years ago - but a one-all draw was a reasonable outcome.

Put it this way: New Zealand won a thriller at Dunedin which could have gone either way; Pakistan walked the second at the Basin Reserve against a wretched batting display; and New Zealand had a clear edge in the decider but ran out of time on a pitch which, despite confident predictions that it would be perkier than usual for the bowlers, proved to be another examination of their spirit and perseverance.

There wasn’t much between the teams and that added to the intrigue. Some of the cricket was of pretty poor quality - from both teams.

Pakistan spilt a barely believable 17 catches over the three tests; New Zealand had the batting horrors over the first two matches; but both had bowlers with penetration and skill.

The final test threw up a bright newcomer in debutant opener BJ Watling, who turned on a dazzling little cameo, slipping into one-day mode in the vain chase for victory; and an unexpected bonus in Martin Guptill’s offspin which - and don’t snigger here - might yet turn into a handy backup option on a hot day for the specialists.

Neither team was good enough to get and maintain dominance, and so there could be few complaints at a drawn series.

Pakistan’s best? Teenager Umar Akmal - top scorer in the series on debut with 379 runs at 63.16 - and new ball champion Mohammad Asif, whose 19 wickets at a terrific 19.78 apiece was comfortably the finest return of the bowlers.

As for New Zealand, the batting needs more work.

Even at McLean Park, the best batting surface in the country, there were those among the top six who missed out. Hard questions need to be asked and Daniel Flynn may have used Read more…

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Pakistan finally won a Test after a yawning gap of nearly three years and 12 Test matches. On the face of it, the Wellington win appeared a convincing one because the Kiwis were crushed by 141 runs.

However, with our shoddy performance at Dunedin earlier, where Mohammad Yousuf and his brigade lost a battle they could have won with little more application and skill, predicting the outcome of the Test series would be foolhardy.

And while the grim battle goes on between bat and ball in the Test series, the off-field saga of Aussie tour captaincy is getting more complexed by the day.

As if Younis Khan’s ‘request for rest’ from international cricket was startling enough, we are now experiencing an agonising wait on who would be leading the Pakistan squad to a country where we have never won a Test series.

One wonders whether Younis’ astonishing absence and the subsequent reaction to it by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) can be rated as acts of professionalism by any standard.

A recent media report suggested that makeshift skipper Yousuf, assuming himself to be the captain-designate for Australia, has already proposed changes in the team for the challenging assignment following the mysterious silence of Younis who also missed the recent Quaid-i-Azam Trophy games despite chief selector Iqbal Qasim’s insistence on featuring in the same.

Needless to say, if the hastily-made leadership arrangement for the New Zealand Tests is persevered with, the move will certainly have its ramifications given the complexity of the present national cricket set-up.

Due to this captaincy crisis, Pakistan cricket seems to be in a shambles. Sometimes Read more…

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As someone who played with Shane Bond in his first four tests eight years ago, I was delighted, and pleasantly surprised, by his return to the five-day game at Dunedin last week.

But his latest injury, which has put him out of the current test in Wellington and next week’s third match against Pakistan in Napier, leaves me wondering how long this comeback will last.

The strong suspicion is that his test days are numbered. My advice would be to turn his attention to the one-day game.

The quality of his bowling in Dunedin was no surprise. We’ve long known he has the ability to be among the very best, as a record of 87 wickets in 18 tests shows.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf, a terrific batsman who has seen the best of the modern game, puts him among the finest he’s played.

The aspect which did surprise me was his pace. He’s 34, has been through the wringer in terms of injuries, and yet he was still able to get the ball through at about 150km/h.

If you’re above 140km/h you’re lively; touch 150km/h and that puts you in a different league.

Bond’s performance in its own right was outstanding, but one point seemed to be missed by most commentators - his work created opportunities for the bowlers at the other end.

Take the eight wickets out of the equation for a moment.

If you watched the Pakistan batsmen, Bond’s presence and pace made them change their game plan.

When he was bowling they were all pretty keen to get to the other end.

They were noticeably more aggressive against the other bowlers, which in turn meant they took more liberties against Chris Martin, Iain O’Brien and Daniel Vettori, and that led to Read more…

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Captains meeting done and dusted, massage finished, food done, blog and sleep to go before we head into the first Test of the summer against Pakistan, here in Dunedin.

This is a home series for Pakistan; Dunedin is about as far away from home they could find themselves climatically. I can’t believe I’ve just used the word ‘climatically’. It was very cold when we got here on Saturday, it has warmed up a bit, but when the wind comes in the temperature certainly drops a lot!

We’ve trained the last two days and trained well. It’s a good feeling when you look around the nets and field seeing the boys all going well; hitting the planned areas in the nets, taking our catches (slippers and outfielders) and showing the intensity that we’ll need to bring on game day tomorrow.

In our captains meeting our guest that handed out our Test Caps was Richard (Dick) Taylor, 1974 Commonwealth Games gold medalist in the 10,000 meters. This was a very special one for us. A Kiwi legend that put so much into one event, against a great field, and came up trumps! It was an honour to have him in our presence and have him present our caps.

We’re looking to bat first if blue is the major colour in the sky. The pitch looks like it will be pretty good first up to bat on; although that goes against a lot of first-class matches that are played down here. They quite often are over in less than three days. The last two Tests down here, the Bangers and the Windies, have been flat and pretty slow wickets. We’re expecting much of the same this time too.

Our bowling attack is probably one of the oldest put out on a park. We’ve been called ‘wizened’ and ‘geriatric’ by an ex-player in the media. It’s fair to say that between us (Martin, Bond, Tuffy and I) we’ve had a good laugh at it. We all feel great, sure it doesn’t get any easier, but in terms of fitness, energies, love of the game and desire, we’re as young as anyone would Read more...

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Coaching crises and off-field anarchy are usually Pakistan’s domain, although New Zealand have attempted to level the playing field with Andy Moles’ untimely demise on the eve of their three-match one-day cricket series.

Add in Brendon McCullum losing the vice-captaincy and for once New Zealand can rival their opponents in the controversy stakes.

Pakistan’s preparations have been laced with rumours of match-fixing, talk of a fallout between senior players and the skipper’s resignation then reinstatement.

New Zealand leave for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today coach-less although by no means rudderless, as Daniel Vettori’s powers are all encompassing for the time being.

Captain, selector, leading allrounder and for now, acting coach. And it seems Vettori will remain the master of all trades for the three test series against Pakistan starting in Dunedin on November 24.

“Now every single person in the squad has to pick up a little bit of the slack,” Vettori said. “People will still expect us to win, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t, and that’s the mindset that we have to have going away.

“We need to win these games to take some pressure off what’s happening here.”

New Zealand Cricket does not want to rush to find Moles’ replacement and is Read more…

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