Waqar says South Africa series success a ‘morale booster’ for New Zealand tour

AUCKLAND - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis is confident that his team can carry forward their impressive performance against South Africa into their forthcoming tour of New Zealand.

Pakistan got their cricket back on track after a disastrous tour of England with respectable results against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates in November.

They drew both Test matches, and managed a close five-match ODI series before eventually losing it 3-2.

“South Africa’s probably one of the best teams at the moment, so it was a morale booster after all that we went through,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Waqar, as saying.

“We’ve played some decent cricket in the one-dayers as well as in the Test matches. We never got into a position of winning any Test matches, but we showed some guts and made sure we managed some draws.”

“This is an opportunity for us also, but we don’t really want to forget that New Zealand in their own country, they are a very fine side. We’ve got to make sure we do the basics right and try to win the maximum we can,” he added.

New Zealand, on the other hand, has issues of another nature following their 11 one-day losses on the trot.

The Daniel Vettori-led team, which was thrashed 0-5 in a one-day series against India, has equalled their second worst one-day run of 11 straight defeats.

They were earlier beaten 0-4 in a five-match ODI series by Bangladesh in October.

The Black Caps’ last win came in the first match of a Sri Lanka tri-series, against India, on August 10. (ANI)