Skillful NZ and Pakistan in final showdown
Match facts
Friday, December 19, 2014
Start time 1500 local (11 GMT)
Big picture
New Zealand and Pakistan have managed something special over the last week and a half - a bilateral one-day series that does not want for context.
Throughout this tour, both teams have been in a see-saw battle that is yet to have a winner. The Test series was drawn. So was the T20 series. The ODI series stands at 2-2 with one match to play because of a riveting showdown in Abu Dhabi. In some ways, Wednesday's ODI summarised the tour so far: one team got the upper hand, then the other picked itself up and fought back vigorously.
Key individuals have also stepped up. Shahid Afridi has shown an awareness of how match-changing a 30- or 40-ball stay from him can be. Kane Williamson has developed the kind of consistency that adjectives can't catch up to. Sarfraz Ahmed has been fearless and calculating. And for a bowler who regularly touches the 150kph-mark, Adam Milne's accuracy has been striking.
New Zealand's ability to adapt to the UAE conditions has been matched by Pakistan's doggedness and whatever happens on Friday, the gains from this series is likely to stand both teams in good stead for the upcoming World Cup, and perhaps beyond.
Form guide
(most recent first, completed matches only)
Pakistan LWLWL
New Zealand WLWLL
In the spotlight
It should not have taken an injury to accommodate Umar Akmal into Pakistan's XI. A player with over 100 matches to his name should be able to command a regular place in the side, but it shows that he is still considered a gamble. And some of his dismissals corroborate that. He did well in Abu Dhabi and would need to build on that if he wants to compete for a middle-order position, especially when it is likely that that Sohaib Maqsood and Misbah-ul-Haq might slot back in once they regain fitness.
Martin Guptill is tall, strong and a typically stand-and-deliver batsman whose game is built around power. The only problem is that he tends to have some starting troubles. New Zealand have struggled to find a settled opening combination, so much that their regular captain Brendon McCullum is mulling a move to the top of the order. Should Guptill devise a way to increase his consistency, New Zealand might just have one of the most explosive opening pairs in the World Cup.
Team news
The experiment with Nasir Jamshed as opener did not yield a good result and also forced Mohammad Hafeez to occupy an unfamiliar batting position. Pakistan might go back to the Hafeez-Ahmed Shehzad combine at the top and either use Jamshed in the middle order or bring back Asad Shafiq.
Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Asad Shafiq/ Nasir Jamshed, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi (capt), 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Anwar Ali, 11 Mohammad Irfan
Daniel Vettori left the UAE on the eve of the final ODI for his brother's wedding, which opens up a spot for Nathan McCullum.
New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Dean Brownlie, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Adam Milne 11 Mitchell McClenaghan
Pitch and conditions
Abu Dhabi tends to be a slow but flat track and batting first has been a marked advantage.
Stats & trivia
- Shahid Afridi has a strike-rate of 165.51 with the bat and an economy rate of 4.22 with the ball in this series - the best among both teams
- Mitchell McClenaghan, with 55 wickets from 27 matches - is the only bowler from either side to be among the top-10 wicket-takers in the last two years. Mohammad Irfan with 52 is 11th
Quotes
"This series is for us to utilise and get the clear picture who are the final 15 [players for the World Cup] and besides that win this series."
Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach
"Last night, once again, in quite foreign conditions, he showed how clever he is and then at the end how destructive he can be"
Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, is a fan of Kane Williamson
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo