Pakistan v West Indies, World Cup 2015, Group B, Christchurch

" Trench fight: Pakistan, West Indies seek first points  "

Team news

Guessing at Pakistan's XI and correct batting order is as hard as solving a Wheel of Fortune puzzle with no letters showing. Younis is suddenly an opener, but will he stay there? Will they stick with Umar Akmal as wicketkeeper or get Sarfraz Ahmed back in? Will they persist with a spin-heavy attack after it failed against India? "You can't say after one game," Misbah said. "We are not panicking. We're just looking into all these matters very closely."

Pakistan (possible) 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Younis Khan, 3 Haris Sohail, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Sohaib Maqsood, 6 Umar Akmal (wk), 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Sohail Khan, 11 Mohammad Irfan.

West Indies were without spinner Sulieman Benn in the first game after he succumbed to back soreness, and allrounder Darren Sammy has also been battling a stiff back since the loss to Ireland. However, the captain Jason Holder indicated both men would likely be available. "We've gotten Benn to a stage where we think he's going to be a lot better off than in the first game against Ireland," Holder said. "Tomorrow we should have a full complement to choose from."

West Indies (possible) 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Lendl Simmons, 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Sulieman Benn.

Pitch and conditions

Hagley Oval proved good for batting in the first innings of the tournament opener last Saturday, when New Zealand made 331 against Sri Lanka. The forecast for Christchurch this Saturday is for a fine day and a top of 25C.

Stats and trivia

  Shahid Afridi is 30 runs away from 8000 in ODIs. He would be the 27th man to pass that milestone, and comfortably the slowest in terms of innings taken

 Kemar Roach is two wickets away from 100 in ODIs

Since the previous World Cup, these teams have met in 11 ODIs for six Pakistan wins, four West Indies victories, and one tie.

Quotes

"If we want to do well in this World Cup this is an important game, and both teams need to win."

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain

"We can't let our defeats get us down. We lost the game against Ireland and it was a pretty tough loss, but if we get ourselves down it's hard to pick ourselves back up."

Jason Holder , the West Indies captain