Friday, October 2, 2009

Pakistan wary of injury-hit Kiwis

ICC Champions Trophy semi-final, Wanderers, Johannesburg:
New Zealand v Pakistan
Date: Saturday, 3 October Start time: 1330 BST
Coverage: Live scorecard on BBC Sport website, Ceefax and mobiles. Also live on Sky Sports.


New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and Pakistan skipper Younus Khan
Vettori and Younus last met in the World Twenty20 in England this year

Pakistan skipper Younus Khan has warned his side to beware an injury-hit New Zealand in Saturday's ICC Champions Trophy semi-final in Johannesburg.

The Kiwis have already called up three replacements and have flown a fourth - Scott Styris - to South Africa as cover for Grant Elliott.

The all-rounder chipped a bone in his right thumb, but after practising on Friday Elliott was passed fit.

Younus said: "When they have pressure, they rise together and perform."

The International Cricket Council have given seam bowler Iain O'Brien the green light to play after he was called up replace Daryl Tuffey.

Pakistan, by contrast, have a fully fit squad to pick from, with opening batsman Imran Nazir now recovered from a hand injury.

They face a selection dilemma over the make-up of their seam attack with Umar Gul, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohhamad Aamir and Mohammad Asif seemingly in competition for three places.

Teenager Aamir, one of the brightest young talents in world cricket, was rested for Pakistan's previous game against Australia, allowing Asif to play his first international match after a year-long doping ban.

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Asif responded by taking 2-34 and Younus said: "It's a healthy sign for Pakistani cricket that there is strong competition for places in the batting and bowling line-ups."

Despite losing to Australia, Younus remains hopeful that they can add the Champions Trophy to the World Twenty20 title they won in England earlier this year.

"Now we're in the semi-final here, we just need two more good games," the 31-year-old said.

New Zealand may bolster their batting line-up by including Aaron Redmond, who was drafted into the squad late after Jesse Ryder suffered a groin injury in the group win over Sri Lanka.

All-rounder Brendon Diamanti is also hoping to make his first appearance in the tournament.

Styris, 34, has been in India preparing to play for Deccan Chargers in the Twenty20 Champions League, which starts next week.

Despite the various injury problems, skipper Daniel Vettori believes New Zealand will approach the match with a "lot of confidence".

He said: "I suppose there's always an expectation for a New Zealand team to make a semi-final, and then there's also an expectation for us to lose that semi-final.

"But we really want to go past that, we really want to change the script a little bit.

"For me personally, it would be one of the more satisfying things I could do in my career to lead a New Zealand team to a world final."


New Zealand (from): Brendon McCullum (wk), Martin Guptill, Neil Broom, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins (wk), Daniel Vettori (capt), James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Aaron Redmond, Brendon Diamanti, Jeetan Patel, Iain O'Brien. (Scott Styris subject to ICC approval)

Pakistan (from): Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Younus Khan (capt), Shoaib Mailk, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Aamir, Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar.

Umpires: Simon Taufel, Ian Gould, Daryl Harper (third umpire), Steve Davis (fourth umpire)

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