Southee targets Misbah as dangerman

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PALLEKELE: New Zealand pace spearhead Tim Southee said Sunday that in-form Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul-Haq was in his sights for the match between the Group A rivals on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old Pakistan batsman was in prime form on his side's recent tour of New Zealand, making 203 runs in four innings to help Pakistan secure a series win and has continued to score runs at the World Cup.

Misbah scored 65 against Kenya, 83 not out against Sri Lanka and 37 against Canada, playing a key role in his team's three wins in as many matches.

"He has obviously been having a great period not just against New Zealand but also in the World Cup," said Southee.

"Hopefully, we have learnt from the way we bowled against him in New Zealand and we can work on a couple of things to try and put an end to the form he is in, also (Shahid) Afridi and a couple of other guys who are standing up in key moments in games."

Southee said his team had put the defeat against Australia earlier in the competition behind them and were focusing on Pakistan in Pallekele.

"It's been mixed results so far, we've had two convincing wins but obviously you can't dwell on the loss to Australia," said Southee.

New Zealand, who have beaten Kenya and Zimbabwe, both by ten wickets, are on four points from three matches, fourth in the table behind Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

"We learnt from that game and moved on and we showed that in the game against Zimbabwe. It's a tournament where you can't dwell on things too much. You've got to move on and take each game as it comes," said Southee, who has seven wickets in this World Cup.

The paceman said he relishes the challenge of getting into the final eleven.

"You're never really safe in a side where you have guys like Kyle Mills coming back and playing outstandingly and it wasn't that long ago when he was number one in the world.

"It's good to have that competitiveness amongst the bowlers. That's a healthy thing but I guess your spot is never cemented in the side," said Southee, who admitted learning from tours of Bangladesh and India last year.

"We were lucky that a majority of the side came over and we played a lot of cricket on the subcontinent and although the results didn't go our way and weren't that great I think we learnt a lot on those tours," he said. (AFP)