Published: Nov 09, 2014, 11:05 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 09, 2014, 11:07 AM (IST)
Nov 9, 2014
New Zealand‘s off-spinner Mark Craig admitted facing Pakistan in the three-Test series will be a big challenge but his team-mates were ready for it. The 27-year-old, who made a remarkable debut with eight wickets against the West Indies in June this year, will supplement the slow bowling along with leg-spinner Ish Sodhi. The first Test starts in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Craig said the team was gearing up for the Pakistan challenge. Catch the live coverage of the first Test between Pakistan and New Zealand on tensports.com, and the live telecast of the match on Ten Cricket and Ten HD.
“The mood in the camp is pretty good and the boys are obviously looking at what’s going to be a tough challenge,” Craig told reporters. New Zealand warmed-up for the Test with a drawn three-day game in Sharjah, which Craig feels was a good tune up. “The good thing is that we have had probably 150 overs in the field in the warm-up game, so we have done plenty of bowling and the boys did well,” said Craig. Sodhi took five wickets in the first innings while Craig had a wicket in each in the two innings.
New Zealand’s challenge got bigger after Pakistan thrashed Australia 2-0 in the preceding two-match series, their first win over the Kangaroos in 20 years. Pakistani batsmen made Australian spinners toil hard as Nathan Lyon managed just three wickets at a costly return of 140. Craig said Australian spinners did struggle to get wickets, while Pakistan’s Zulfiqar Babar (14 wickets) and Yasir Shah (12) forced the batsmen into submission, AFP reported.
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