CRICKET NEWS

PAKISTAN vs NEW ZEALAND june 13 2009
Pakistan will face New Zealand at the Oval in London in their second game of the Super Eights in Group F. The Kiwis have played one game and routed Ireland in that game while Pakistan were soundly beaten by Sri Lanka in their first game.
Pakistan's woes with their bowling began even before the tournament began when both Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar were ruled out of the tournament for different reasons, while the injuries to Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir has weakened the pace department even further. Arafat has already been replaced by Abdul Razzaq in the squad, while Tanvir limped through his first over in the Sri Lanka game with wides and no-balls to his name. For the Pakistanis to perform well against New Zealand, they will need the quick bowlers to be able to restrict the free-scoring batsmen like Brendon McCullum and the half-century scorer in the last game, Aaron Redmond.
The Kiwis will obviously miss Jesse Ryder, who has flown back due to a groin injury, and one isn't too sure about Ross Taylor's status either. With a couple of others carrying a niggle or two as well, the Kiwi batsmen could face the same issue that the Pakistani bowlers would and that is the lack of personnel.
Having said that, Martin Guptill had had a good previous game, as did Redmond and if Brendon McCullum could remove his captaincy hat and get on with the batting one while opening the inning, the batting could roll over the weak Pakistani bowling. It will be the Pakistani spinners who will definitely test the Kiwi batsman, and players like McCullum and Scott Styris, two of the better players of spin, will have a lot of work to be done.
For the Kiwis, Iain O'Brien did play a couple of games earlier - including the warm-up ones - but wasn't found to be too successful. However, he has been New Zealand's more successful performers, and could return back to the side if one of the bowlers are found to be struggling with a niggle. Daniel Vettori could just end being a passenger in the side given his injury status, but Nathan McCullum has fit in the job very well. The battle between a Kiwi spinner and the Pakistani batsmen should be one interesting one to watch out for!
All in all, despite Pakistan's inabilities in this tournament, I would not have any favourites for this game; too close a game to call!