Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand is set to conclude on Saturday (April 5) with the third and final ODI at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. New Zealand have already won the series and Pakistan will be hoping to end the series on a high. Here’s the pitch report:
New Zealand and Pakistan will face each other for one last time on this tour in the third and final ODI of the series on Saturday (April 5) at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. The hosts have already won the series by winning the first two matches and will be keen on making it 3-0.
Meanwhile, Pakistan have not played their best cricket at all on this tour. They lost the T20I series 1-4 and have already gone down 0-2 in ODIs. They would want to end the tour on a high, but for that to happen, their best players – Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan – will have to step up. The only positive for them so far on this tour has been the performance Sufiyan Muqeem who has featured in only two out of six matches so far.
As for New Zealand, their fringe players have performed really well in this series. Mark Chapman, Mitchell Hay, and others have done well in two ODIs so far and their eyes will be on the whitewash now.
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui Pitch Report
The surface at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui is known to be good for batting. The venue has hosted 30 ODIs so far, out of which 16 have been won by teams bowling first. 371 is the highest score at the venue registered by the home team against Sri Lanka while the highest total chased successfully is 300, again by the hosts against India.
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui – ODI Numbers Game
Matches Played – 30
Matches won batting first – 14
Matches won batting second – 16
Average first inns scores – 234
Highest total – 371/7 by NZ vs SL
Highest score chased – 300/5 by NZ vs IND
Squads
New Zealand: Nick Kelly, Rhys Mariu, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell (c), Muhammad Abbas, Mitchell Hay (wk), Nathan Smith, Jacob Duffy, Ben Sears, William ORourke, Will Young, Tim Seifert, Adithya Ashok
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Akif Javed, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah
