New Zealand pin hopes on Oram

New Zealand will give a late fitness test to Jacob Oram before naming their side for the fourth ODI against Pakistan at Rawalpindi on Friday (0600GMT, December 5).

The series is already decided after Pakistan's victories in the first three games of the best-of-five rubber, but New Zealand are determined to salvage something from the remaining matches. "Everybody is trying his best out there," Chris Cairns, their stand-in captain, said. "If we can pull off a victory, it will be fantastic. We realise how hard it is when you look at the potential match-winners in both sides ... we are not blessed with as many as Pakistan."

With the side already weakened by the absence of several regulars, Oram's fitness is crucial to New Zealand's hopes of averting a series whitewash. Containing Pakistan's batsmen has been the biggest problems, and Oram alone has shown capable of doing that to any effect.

In the Pakistan camp problems are few and far between at the moment - Inzamam-ul-Haq, the captain, explained that his main concern is to prevent his side mentally switching off. "The boys are showing maturity," he grinned. "I am happy with the way we won the first three and hope not to lose the focus."

Pakistan (probable): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Yasir Hameed, 3 Yousuf Youhana, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Moin Khan (wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Saleem Elahi, 10 Shabbir Ahmed, 11 Shoaib Akhtar.

New Zealand (probable) 1 Craig Cumming, 2 Richard Jones, 3 Mathew Sinclair, 4 Hamish Marshall, 5 Chris Harris, 6 Chris Cairns (capt), 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Jacob Oram/Matthew Walker, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Michael Mason, 11 Kerry Walmsley.