With Shane Bond back in the team and firing on all cylinders, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is confident his bowling attack has the pace to match Pakistan's firepower in the forthcoming series.
Bond returned to international cricket in June after spending more than a year away following his defection to the unofficial Indian Cricket League. He was included in the New Zealand team for the tour of Sri Lanka and played a leading role later as the Black Caps reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa last month,
including a 3-21 against England.
Kyle Mills and Ian Butler also had a good Champions Trophy, and the pace trio shared 20 wickets between them, six of which came in the five-wicket semi-final win over Pakistan.
Vettori is hoping his pace attack can repeat that performance when the series against Pakistan gets underway on tomorrow (Tuesday) with the first of the three One-day Internationals in Abu Dhabi before moving to Dubai for the two Twenty20 Internationals.
"Our pace attack won us the game against Pakistan in South Africa," said Vettori. "So I believe we match them in that department. The likes of Bond, Mills and Butler did a fantastic job. They're all here and I have expectations on them to do similar.
"But I think Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer and Naved-ul-Hasan are quality players, particularly Aamer. He has really impressed the guys. For such a young guy, he runs in and bowls with some pace and he doesn't give up. He's a real quality prospect for Pakistan for a number of years."
Vettori was particularly pleased with the return of Bond, who had been New Zealand's pace spearhead and one of the leading fast bowlers of world cricket before his defection.
"As captain of the side, it makes a difference for me to have him around because he is a quality player, a guy who you can throw a ball to at any time," said Vettori.
"He is a strike bowler and that's something we've probably struggled with in our bowling attack. Mills and myself have done a good job, but when you really need someone to take a wicket I think Bond is the guy I look to. He has made a difference to the psyche of the team as well."
In a career spanning eight years, Bond has taken 228 wickets. Those numbers would have been much greater if not for frequent injury breakdowns. The 34-year-old has played just 17 Test matches and 74 One-day Internationals since making his debut against Australia in 2001.
Vettori knows he will have to handle the returning paceman with care, but admits it is difficult to ask him to rest.
"Shane believes that every game is important," said the Kiwi captain. "It's hard to take a game away from him, to try to rest him.
"So I think the biggest thing for him is just getting through games. I think he has proven that he is still a quality international performer and he can still be a star on the stage.
"The big thing for him is just to know he can get through games. He wants to play Test cricket and that's exciting for us. But it still brings a bit of trepidation about him being able to get through that."
Arizvi@thenational/ae
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day – 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227-4 at the close.
What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
What is Diwali?
The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.
According to the Sanskrit epic, penned by the sage Valmiki, Diwali marks the time that the exiled king Rama – a mortal with superhuman powers – returned home to the city of Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after vanquishing the 10-headed demon Ravana and conquering his kingdom of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya are believed to have lit thousands of earthen lamps to illuminate the city and to guide the royal family home.
In its current iteration, Diwali is celebrated with a puja to welcome the goodness of prosperity Lakshmi (an incarnation of Sita) into the home, which is decorated with diyas (oil lamps) or fairy lights and rangoli designs with coloured powder. Fireworks light up the sky in some parts of the word, and sweetmeats are made (or bought) by most households. It is customary to get new clothes stitched, and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
more from Janine di Giovanni
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
