Cricket: Combating Asif a major concern

Mohammad Asif has taken 17 wickets so far in the series against New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

Knocking their nemesis Mohammad Asif off his stride is a prime consideration for New Zealand's largely timid batting unit when the third and final cricket test with Pakistan starts in Napier on Friday.

Asif is no longer equipped with the express pace of new ball partner, teenage tearaway Mohammad Aamer, but his ability to virtually take up residence in the New Zealand top order's corridor of uncertainty at University Oval and the Basin Reserve casts the 26-year-old as the home side's most challenging adversary.

After two years out of the test side due to a long-term elbow injury and drug-related suspension for nandrolone use and then opium possession, Asif's comeback has ultimately surpassed that of Shane Bond's spectacular though short-lived return.

Heading into the McLean Park test Asif has 17 wickets so far at 15.17.

His eight wickets in Dunedin could not prevent New Zealand prevailing by 32 runs, but his nine scalps in Wellington were not in vain as Pakistan levelled the series with a 141-run victory with more than a day and a session to spare.

Like Bond, Asif has also discovered speed can be of secondary importance for a maturing fast bowler dogged by injuries.

Control, variation and guile can garner just as many wickets - for Asif it is a formula that has produced 68 in 13 tests - a strike rate comparable to Bond's 87 from 18.

A genuine quick when he debuted in the New Year test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2005, these days Asif resembles metronomic Australian right armer Glenn McGrath.

Asif rarely settles in the mid-140km/h range, not that he has to given an ability to seam the ball both ways. That ability has seen him claim nine wickets caught by keeper Kamran Akmal and an unreliable slips cordon, another at bat-pad, and just one in the outfield.

He also a trio of leg before wicket dismissals and has hit the stumps three times.

Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn and Peter Fulton have all succumbed to Asif - Ross Taylor appears the only specialist batsmen armed with an effective plan.

Taylor has not yet been dismissed by Asif though his aggressive stance does invite trouble.

During his counter attacking 97 in New Zealand's second innings at the Basin Reserve, Taylor collected 17 runs from the 18 balls he took from Asif, his highest strike rate against the four-pronged attack.

In contrast Fulton - jettisoned yesterday for the uncapped Northern Districts opener BJ Watling - nurdled just three from 19 deliveries.

Guptill had nine from 32 before he was bowled while the usually expressive Brendon McCullum was hemmed in entirely, defending 14 dot balls.

Grant Elliott, another component of an under performing batting unit, said Taylor's approach was the way forward, within reason.

"The way Ross plays is really aggressive, he goes on the counter attack instead of playing tentatively.

"Going into the next test it's about showing intent, though you can't be reckless."

Elliott said although Asif was the slowest of Pakistan's three pace bowlers, his control set him apart.

"He bowls good areas, one nips away, one nips in. He's bowled pretty well to us, he's had the upper hand."

Elliott survived a minor selection cull yesterday that saw Fulton cut for Watling, who will form a new opening partnership with the unconvincing McIntosh.

However, Elliott's prospects of playing a third successive test hang in the balance. He is now contesting a middle order berth with Flynn, who has surrendered his place at first drop to former opener Guptill.

Elliott was relieved there was not a top order clean out when a revised 13-man squad was released.

"I think a player's skills don't change one day to the next. If you put faith in a player I think it's good to stick with them," he said.

- NZPA