{"id":44258,"date":"2018-01-14T21:30:23","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T16:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=44258"},"modified":"2018-01-14T21:30:23","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T16:30:23","slug":"playing-in-new-zealand-a-big-challenge-for-pakistan-admits-flower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=44258","title":{"rendered":"Playing in New Zealand a big challenge for Pakistan: admits Flower"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ISLAMABAD, Jan 14 (TNS):<\/strong> Pakistan batting coach Grant Flower has accepted that playing in New Zealand is a big challenge for Pakistan, and one they have not risen to till now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe conditions might have helped New Zealand, but that\u2019s no excuse for some of the shots we played,\u201d he was quoted as saying by prominent cricket website ESPNcricinfo on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re world-class bowlers playing in their home conditions, so they\u2019ll obviously have an advantage on that front. We have players more used to playing on slow, low wickets, and that obviously tells in the way some of the wickets fell,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand\u2019s conditions are a world away, in more ways than one, from the kind Pakistan are used to playing in, but the University Oval in Dunedin has one of the slower pitches among international grounds in the country, and it had showed in the first innings, with New Zealand\u2019s batsmen struggling to time the ball.<\/p>\n<p>When Pakistan batted, however, the pitch looked altogether different, the ball whizzing through to the wicketkeeper around shoulder height, and rising sharply off the surface. It might have been to do with the drizzle that was a constant for much of the Pakistan innings, but with the ball coming on to the bat, that could easily have worked in the batsmen\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, well, the ball gets a bit wetter and there\u2019s a bit more zip in the wicket,\u201d Flower said. \u201cBut it\u2019s still no excuse, like I said. The guys are good enough to adapt, but at this stage we haven\u2019t been good enough, or smart enough. Against world-class bowlers, you have to be ready from ball one, but in the first ten overs so far, we\u2019ve been blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t just the wickets that have been the problem for Pakistan in the first Powerplay. The top order has consistently looked uncomfortable against the lethal opening pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, too often sitting on the back foot, looking to survive. It has stood in stark contrast to the way Martin Guptill and Colin Munro have approached the first 10 overs, looking to attack the bowlers and getting ahead of par scoring- rates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, it\u2019s apprehension and getting caught on the crease with guys\u2019 lack of foot movement,\u201d Flower said. \u201cThe better way is trying to be more positive and try and take on the bowling a bit more. We\u2019ve probably been just a bit apprehensive. I think if you get a few shots away and take the challenge to the bowlers, then all of a sudden they have to think of their lengths a bit, so hopefully we\u2019re going to see a more positive display on our batting side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a result like this, particularly in a game that had the series on the line, things can often fall apart very quickly. And it did when Pakistan toured England in 2016. There, too, the low point was a thrashing in the third ODI, where England amassed a record 444 in the first innings, and ended up winning 4-1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope not (that this doesn\u2019t become like the England tour),\u201d Flower said with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMickey (Arthur) was quite measured after the match. He had a few words, but it was more just trying to let the guys know that the tour\u2019s not over and we can turn it around very quickly. It sounds like a click, but that\u2019s the thing. One good match or two good matches and it\u2019s 3-2 and then you\u2019re going into the T20s so hopefully the guys are thinking that way, and I suppose time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are always a few things we can work on technically. I spoke to the guys, we had a travelling day today, so I spoke to one or two. Then we\u2019ll take that to the nets tomorrow, we have practice in the morning. But sometimes you don\u2019t want to get too technical, you want to keep trying to be positive. Sometimes too much advice is not the right way to go, you just want the guys to go out and hit the ball. But like I said, it\u2019s a balance that the guys have to find, and hopefully over the next few days we will find that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When pressed about how he reckoned Pakistan could reconcile playing attacking shots without playing the sort of poor shots they have so far, Flower was blunt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what you get paid for. That\u2019s what you do all the practice for and the hours in the nets. The guys have to find that balance. If they can\u2019t, they\u2019re not worth their place in the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD, Jan 14 (TNS): Pakistan batting coach Grant Flower has accepted that playing in New Zealand is a big challenge for Pakistan, and one they have not risen to till now. \u201cThe conditions might have helped New Zealand, but that\u2019s no excuse for some of the shots we played,\u201d he was quoted as saying by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[330],"class_list":["post-44258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44260,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44258\/revisions\/44260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}