RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, 7 December 2003 — New Zealand captain Chris Cairns feels it would be hard for his exhausted side to avert Pakistan’s clean sweep when the sides meet in the fifth and final one-dayer at Pindi stadium here today.
“I feel tired, I have been playing for a while so these new guys are going to be exhausted too, mentally very tired because this is an incredibly intense situation with five matches in nine days against a top opposition,” said Cairns in his post match comments Friday. Pakistan leads the series 4-0. New Zealand was hit hard by the pre-series pull out of four key players over security fears and three others due to injury.
A fast maturing Pakistan side outlasted New Zealand by three wickets in the first match and then had comprehensive 124-run, 51-run and seven-wicket wins in the next three. “These new guys haven’t been exposed to the mental intensity of what we are dealing with,” said the 33-year-old Cairns, referring to the tight match schedule. “We got only one day to turn it around and that’s been difficult part,” said the Black Caps captain. “It was a good old-fashioned hiding, that was a reality because ours was a completely below-par performance at international level,” said Cairns.
