NZ primed for Pakistan series as WTC final looms

MOUNT MAUNGANUI: New Zealand start their last push to make the World Test Championship (WTC) final from Saturday in the first Test against an injury-hit Pakistan here at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

The Black Caps are full of confidence coming off a comprehensive 2-0 series win against the West Indies, and need to produce a similar result in the two Pakistan Tests.

Kane Williamson’s side are third behind Australia and India and need to win both the first game at Bay Oval and then the second from Jan 3 at Hagley Oval in Christchurch to give themselves any chance.

And if the Indians continue to struggle in their current series in Australia and New Zealand sweep the series against an under-strength Pakistan, it could be enough to see the Black Caps at Lord’s for the final in June.

But Williamson, who missed the second Test against the West Indies to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, refuses to look at the big picture.

“I think the context of that [World Test Championship] is great for the game in general, but our focus, as it was in the last couple of Tests, is to basically start again and adapt to the conditions that we’re going to have,” he said on Friday. “So it’s coming back to those basics for us and basically playing what is in front of us rather than getting too carried away with potential eventual things, who knows?”

Pakistan, however, will be without injured captain Babar Azam, opener Imam-ul-Haq and all-rounder Shadab Khan and stand-in captain Mohammad Rizwan said while they would miss the trio he expected others to take their opportunities.

“We trust them,” he said. “And hope they will play well.”

Head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said he was ‘confident and optimistic’ other players would step up, but the odds are stacked against the tourists.

Pakistan rank seventh in the world while New Zealand are equal on points with Australia at the top.

New Zealand present a settled line up with the only question over whether they will play spinner Mitchell Santner or batting all-rounder in Daryl Mitchell.

Ross Taylor is assured of starting at number four, which will make him the most capped New Zealand player with 438 appearances across all three formats.

But he has struggled of late with an average of 18.3 over his past 10 innings which is not good enough for a specialist batsman particularly with form batsmen Will Young and Devon Conway waiting in the wings.

Henry Nicholls faced similar pressure in the middle order going into the West Indies series but secured his place for the near future when he produced a capable 174 in the second West Indies Test.

New Zealand’s chances of sweeping the series have been boosted by the return of top batsman Williamson, who missed the innings and 12-run victory over West Indies in Wellington as he awaited the birth of his first child.

The Bay Oval ground is expected to produce a lively green New Zealand wicket which will suit the New Zealand attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson, but stand-in Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan said it could also benefit his side.

“It doesn’t matter if [the pitch] has grass on it. The grass is the same for us as it is for the New Zealand side. It all depends on hard work. Whoever does the hard work is going to get the result,” he said. “If it’s difficult for us, it will be also difficult for New Zealand.”

Southee also has added motivation for the first match, with the pace-bowling spearhead just four wickets away from joining the legendary Sir Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vettori as the third New Zealander to achieve 300 Test wickets.

Teams (from):

NEW ZEALAND: Tom Latham, Tom Blundell, Kane Williamson (captain), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, B.J. Watling, Daryl Mitchell, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Will Young.

PAKISTAN: Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sohail Khan, Imran Butt, Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand) and Wayne Knights (New Zealand).

TV umpire: Chris Brown (New Zealand).

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).