Death bowling must improve

Finding areas that need work isn’t always easy for a team on a roll, but death bowling is once again on the Black Caps’ minds.

Captain Kane Williamson acknowledged it needed to improve ahead of Saturday’s ODI against Pakistan at Dunedin’s University Oval, after letting the visitors off the hook in Nelson on Tuesday.

It didn’t cost the Black Caps the match, but letting them score 246-9 after they’d slumped to 141-7 in the

37th over irked Williamson, particularly as it’s something the team has had to address before.

In the first ODI against the West Indies in Whangarei last month, the Black Caps had the tourists

182-7 before some late hitting got them through to 248-9.

They also let South Africa and Australia get away last summer.

‘‘Yeah, we learnt a few lessons from the last game,’’ Williamson told media on Friday. ‘‘They bat very deep, the Pakistani side, and that is a sign of a good team.

‘‘We were able to take those early wickets which certainly helped us, but to see their lower order come out and put together a partnership that gave them a total which could have been a tough chase ... it’s important that we learn from that and look to do that

a little bit better.’’

Beating Pakistan in the third ODI won’t just seal the five-match series with two games to play, it will equal their longest winning streak (in all formats) of 10 wins.

The side will be boosted by the availability of all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme for the match. The Zimbabwe-born player hasn’t played international cricket since his father’s sudden death in the middle of last month.

Williamson confirmed de Grandhomme was in the matchday team, but whether he makes the playing XI at the expense of spinning all-rounders Todd Astle or Mitchell Santner won’t be known until Saturday morning.

‘‘The wicket at the moment, they sprinkled it this morning with a bit of water, so we want to have another look at it when it’s fully prepared,’’ Williamson said.

The Black Caps haven’t played an ODI at the University Oval, a venue they’ve never lost at, since they beat Scotland by threewickets in the 2015 World Cup.

Tickets sold out on Thursday, meaning a capacity crowd of 4533 is expected at the match.

New Zealand has twice won 10 consecutive matches in history, not that Williamson claims to have given it any thought.

‘‘It’s nice those sort of things if they eventuate, but it’s through hard work and guys performing their roles as best they can.

‘‘I guess it’s a nice outcome based thing for you guys [media] to talk about, which is cool. We’re proud of that.’’

Pakistan are expected to be boosted by the return of opening batsman Fakhar Zaman on Saturday.

He missed the second ODI with a right-thigh contusion, and will most likely replace either Azhar Ali or Imam ul Haq.

Williamson swatted away suggestions his team was yet to be challenged.

‘‘I think we’ve been tested in each game that we’ve played this summer, every team you come up against is a test.’’ Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen have been knocked out of the ASB Classic at the semifinals stage.

They lost to Philipp Oswald from Austria and the Belarusian Max Mirnyi 7-6 7-6 in one hour 39 minutes on a hot and humid Friday afternoon in Auckland.

It was obviously disappointing for Venus and his South African partner to lose like that and not make Saturday’s final.

But throughout this week they’ve demonstrated that they’re a good team, who could do well this year on the circuit.

"It was a close match, we had set points there in the second set and we were on top of those points and were unlucky to get out of those," Venus said afterwards.

"There were a few points here and there and if we got those it would have been a completely different match.

"We tried to make some adjustments where we could and for myself I definitely could have done a few things better today, but it’s never going to be perfect every day.

"We worked well, gave it everything and gave ourselves a chance. So that’s a positive thing."

Klaasen said he’s happy with how he and Venus are gelling after their first tournament together in seven years and he feels optimistic heading into next week’s Australian Open.

"If you asked me when I arrived here if we’d get three matches under our belt this week if I’d be happy, I would have said yes," Klaasen said.

"We got what we needed here,