Scott Styris hoping to secure his spot

New Zealand allrounder Scott Styris is aiming to re-cement his place in the team during the ODI and Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE, since he's been in and out of the national set-up during the last few months.

"I feel like I've been away forever, even though I've had short stints with the team over the last 12 months," Styris told blackcaps.co.nz. "It's good to catch up with everybody again and get back into some work over here.

"I feel like I've been hitting the ball really well. At the Twenty20 World Cup I was relatively happy with the way that went, and since then - without playing a lot of cricket - I feel like I've been going ok. I'd just like to get out there and play some consistent cricket, as it's been a bit stop-start over the last few months."

Styris was not part of New Zealand's ICC Champions Trophy squad but was later called in as cover after injuries depleted the team in South Africa. He was included on this tour because of injuries to Jesse Ryder, Grant Elliott and Daryl Tuffey. New Zealand arrived in the UAE this week and spent their time training and getting acclimatized to the conditions.

"I remember watching the Australia-Pakistan series over here, and they were extremely slow wickets - they turned quite a bit and scoring was difficult," Styris said. "I remember the batsmen's strike-rate being very low, and a score of 200 or 220 being a good score."

"We had our first nets session yesterday and the wickets had a little bit of pace, a little bit of grass on them, and were good for batting. If they play like that there should be some high scores."

New Zealand's first ODI against Pakistan is in Abu Dhabi on November 3.