Agence France Presse

Wellington, January 1

Pakistan’s pacemen conspired to destroy Wellington in a one-day warm-up match here on Thursday, causing a selection dilemma ahead of the first one-day international match against New Zealand in two days.

Wellington lost six wickets for nine runs as Pakistan cruised to a 34-run victory.

Just days after Shoaib Akhtar ripped through New Zealand’s middle order in a Test series-winning spell here, seasoned all-rounders Azhar Mahmood and Abdul Razzaq repeated the lethal dose of reverse swing in their only run-out before Saturday’s international in Auckland.

Having set Wellington 259 to win, Azhar Mahmood and Abdul Razzaq reduced Wellington from 192 for two in the 34th over to 224 all out off 44.1 overs.

Mahmood, in his first match of the tour, took four for 41 off 10 overs, while Razzaq took four for 33 off 10.

The result had Pakistan’s coach, Javed Miandad, in high spirits and he predicted a tough job to select a team for Saturday’s match.

“It was very good preparation for the one-day international. There are several players in consideration, like Younis Khan and Salim Elahi who both got runs,” Miandad said.

“It’s very good if you have a party of 17 and they all are in form. It’s good for the team and you don’t have to worry about anybody. You can take a chance with anybody,” Miandad added.

Younis Khan led the way with the bat, scoring 63 off 78 balls to revive the innings from 128 for five, while the free-scoring Salim Elahi scored 40 off 54 balls.