NZ wary of 'really impressive' Pakistan as teams seek crucial points

Neither New Zealand nor Pakistan have had an ideal World Cup. The former is on three points after four games with just a solitary win, while Pakistan's sole point has come courtesy a washout against England.

That match, for all intents and purposes, should have been firmly locked under the wins column for Pakistan, but such has been the weather in Colombo that any result has been firmly at the behest of the weather gods.

"I've been around this a long time and there's lots of things you can't control, and weather's one of those. It's just something that we've got to roll with," New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyer said ahead of Saturday's match against Pakistan.

Rains have been forecast throughout the day for Saturday as well, but for Sawyer, the preparations remain the same with the past few days also allowing some time for reflection on their washed-out game against Sri Lanka.

"I thought we bowled really well," Sawyer said. "It was a target that we thought we could chase. We just didn't get the chance to do that. So practised really hard the last couple of days and yeah, ready to go for Pakistan tomorrow."

For Pakistan too, the weather has proved an unwelcome guest, bringing their victory charge against England to an abrupt end. It was the first time this tournament that they had managed to produce a complete performance with the ball, and before rain ended play they were looking quite comfortable with the bat as well - an area they had struggled with in the lead-up to the game.

"The pitches are supporting the bowlers, especially spinners. Our spin department and fast bowling department are also doing great," Pakistan opening batter Omaima Sohail said. "But we need to step up in our batting."

Pakistan's improvement is not something that has evaded Sawyer and New Zealand, who are acutely aware of what they are capable of.

"Their top order is, they made it look like light work of maybe chasing down that total the other night," he said. "So, they've been impressive. They've really challenged a couple of weeks or two of the top nations. So, been impressed in particular with their bowling."

One reason for this uptick has been their increasing familiarity with the conditions in Colombo, where batting hasn't been the easiest. This will be just New Zealand's second game at the Khettarama this World Cup, though the rains ensured they were unable to bat against Sri Lanka.

"We played here four matches, so now we know what the situations and what the pitch acts [like]," Sohail said. "So, we know what to do in upcoming matches. We will do better hopefully."

For New Zealand their focus will be on trying to put up more complete performances. Their batting has been bolstered almost solely by runs from Sophie Devine and Brooke Halliday, who have struck 260 and 142 runs respectively over their four matches. Sawyer however is confident that the rest of the team will come good sooner rather than later.

"They've [Devine and Halliday] looked great and to me, I know it might sound a bit silly, but it's really exciting," Sawyer said. "Yeah, we have had probably two batters do the bulk of the work for us at the moment, so if we can get three or four firing at once, I think we can post some huge scores.

"It's a long tournament; it goes for a month. I think we've already been on the road a month, as every other team has, and you're going to have people firing at different times and hopefully we've got some that are really going to fire towards the back end. So I've got no doubt those runs are coming."