Zimbabwe seek consolatory win

With Pakistan already having clinched the series with four wins in a row, only pride will be at stake in Sheikhupura as the Mobilink Cup reaches its conclusion with the fifth and final ODI. Pakistan will be aiming for a whitewash, while Zimbabwe will want to finish on a high after failing to capitalise on opportunities throughout the series.More debuts are on the cards for Pakistan as they test their bench strength ahead of a packed and competitive season. Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Kamran Hussain have all been rested, indicating that there will be plenty of fresh faces taking the field. Nasir Jamshed, Pakistan’s find of the series, and Khalid Latif – unimpressive on debut – are likely to be retained at the top of the order, while Khurram Manzoor, with almost 800 runs in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, is likely to be slotted at No. 3 with the experienced duo of Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq to follow. With Pakistan looking for variety and depth in their bowling attack, Rizwan Ahmed, the leg-spinning allrounder, may alsomake his debut.Pakistan’s bowling has been a worry – they have dismissed Zimbabwe just once in the series. Only Sohail Tanvir, with seven wickets in four matches, has succeeded in troubling the batsmen regularly. Sohail Khan had a lacklusture debut after high expectations following a promising first-class season, but he will get another chance to impress the selectors. Wahab Riaz may become Pakistan’s third left-arm fast-bowler tomake his debut in the series after capturing 51 wickets in ten Quaid-e-AzamTrophy matches.Zimbabwe will once again be without Tawanda Mupariwa, who sprained his leftankle while training in Faisalabad. Hamilton Masakadza will be leading theside in Sheikhupura as Prosper Utseya, troubled by the aggravation of anankle injury, sits out the final match of what has been a disappointingseries for him. Masakadza, eager to leave Pakistan on a positive note,rued Zimbabwe’s lack of depth in bowling and their poor batting in the middle stages of their innings.”We have made a habit of starting well,” Masakadza said. “We bowl well atthe start but we let the initiative slip in the middle overs resulting ineasy runs for Pakistan’s batsmen and thus a loss of pressure. The same hasbeen the case with our batting. We get decent starts but we fail to finishthings off and a less-than-competitive total against Pakistan’s strong andexperienced line-up is what we offer.”Robin Brown, Zimbabwe’s coach, backed Masakadza’s comments on the need tobe consistent throughout the match. “We are desperate to win but forthat we need to bat and bowl consistently throughout the innings,” Brownsaid. “It is a matter of playing more cricket to get the experience thatis required to perform well against top sides. We play with pride and itis not difficult to motivate the team despite the recent losses as everyindividual knows the need to learn from the mistakes and gain as muchexperience as possible.”Unused in the series so far, Timycen Maruma, the right-arm legspinner, maybe drafted into the side to check Pakistan’s progress in the middlestages. Keith Dabengwa and Elton Chigumbura have provided depth to thebatting, but will be required to assert themselves with the ball ifZimbabwe are to make anything of the dead rubber.Zimbabwe have tasted victory at this ground earlier – they beat Pakistan the lasttime an ODI was played at this ground in 1998 – and Brown was confident ofadding to that record. “We have learnt a massive amount just playingagainst Pakistan and we hope to use the psychological advantage of havingbeaten Pakistan at Sheikhupura to cause another upset.”With the teams based in Lahore, both captains refrained from namingtheir XI until before toss on Saturday. Judging by the trend throughoutthe series, early morning assistance is the only help bowlers can expecton the final day of the series.Teams (likely)
Pakistan 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Khalid Latif, 3 Khurram Manzoor, 4 ShoaibMalik (capt), 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Fawad Alam, 7 Rizwan Ahmed, 8 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk),9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Sohail Khan.Zimbabwe 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza (capt), 3 Sean Williams,4 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 5 Brendan Taylor, 6 Chamu Chibhabha, 7 Elton Chigumbura,8 Keith Dabengwa, 9 Timycen Maruma, 10 Gary Brent, 11 Ray Price.