Three 50-over games and three losses for Aotearoa 'A' over in United Arab Emirates against Pakistan 'A'. The kiwis lost the third and final one-dayer after Central Districts batsman Will Young churned out 134 off 141 deliveries to take Aotearoa up to a total of 265, which was then chased down by Pakistan in 48.2 overs with only 3 wickets taken by the kiwis.

When reflect on this game and the 50-over series, it's important to note that this is all about exposing domestic players to foreign conditions and playing against international opposition. Having said that, the manner in which the kiwis were smoked doesn't reflect all that well on the systems in place here in Aotearoa and as I'll touch on below, the difference in performances between the two teams shouldn't be so great after most of this A group would have been training specifically for this tour over the winter, in Lincoln.

Pakistan A vs New Zealand A | 3rd unofficial ODI | Highlights | PCB Welcome to Pakistan Cricket Board Official Page. Get All The Updates Regarding Pakistan Cricket Here. All the Happening in Pakistan can be caught up here. You can get players interviews, match highlights, Practice Sessions, Press Conference, Celebrations.

Pakistan A vs New Zealand A | 3rd unofficial ODI | Highlights | Mohammad Rizwan's Century | PCB Welcome to Pakistan Cricket Board Official Page. Get All The Updates Regarding Pakistan Cricket Here. All the Happening in Pakistan can be caught up here. You can get players interviews, match highlights, Practice Sessions, Press Conference, Celebrations.

While Young hit a century, no other kiwi batsman scored more than Rachin Ravindra's 27 runs. The kiwi bowlers only took 2w in this game. There was also a run out and a Pakistani batsman retired not out. That's fairly mediocre and when we take a look at the series stats, things get worse.

There was a general lack of potency in the kiwis bowling attack and we can dice this a couple ways. This is evident in three of the kiwi bowlers who bowled over 10 overs and did manage to take a wicket, averaging over 30 (Logan van Beek, Todd Astle, Kyle Jamieson and Scott Kuggeleijn). Yet, not to be out-done, we had Ajaz Patel, Blair Tickner and Rachin Ravindra all bowl 10+ overs without a wicket. Lockie Ferguson was the pick of the kiwi bowlers with 5w in 19ov @ 19.20avg/5.05rpo, followed by van Beek who took 3w in 16ov @ 30.66avg/5.75rpo.

With the bat, only three batsmen scored 50+ runs for Aotearoa in this series. Young's century gave him the most runs of the kiwi batsmen, BJ Watling's 75 runs in an innings chucked him into second while 51 and 40 from Todd Astle put him in third. Pakistan had six batsmen score 50+ runs, Aotearoa had three.

For those on Corey Anderson watch, there was little in this series to suggest that he should be fast-tracked into the Blackcaps ODI group - as he was for the T20 squad. Anderson scored 49 runs in 2inns and took 2w in 9.3 overs, which is definitely solid and puts Anderson in the above-average category for Aotearoa A players, however some would hope or expect Anderson to dominate at this level.

It would be bonkers of me to put a spotlight on Ravindra's struggles in this series and throughout the tour, as he's clearly there to benefit from the experience and I instead focus on merely stating his performances. For those who are in the Blackcaps mix though, their performances should reflect their standing in kiwi cricket and instead of leading the A group, those in the Blackcaps mix were somewhat exposed.

Anderson was solid without being dominant.

Glenn Phillips had three ducks, 0 runs from 3inns.

George Worker scored 35 runs from 3inns @ 11.66avg.

Tom Bruce scored 43 runs from 2inns @ 21.50avg.

We want those guys to be commanding further Blackcaps opportunities, not rolling out solid displays. Even Ferguson, who was the pick of the kiwi bowlers, conceded 7.44rpo with 1w in 9ov in the final one-dayer, when you'd hope that he would set the tone for a young bowling group in that game; Tickner, Ravindra, Jamieson, Patel and Phillips.

This leads me to probably the most frustrating observation from the 50-over series, something that the bowlers should be able to control. Aotearoa conceded 14 extras in game three, with 6 wides and 4 no balls, which came after conceding 13 extras in game one and 19 extras for game two. Compare that to Pakistan, who didn't concede 10+ extras in any of the three games as well as noting that Aotearoa conceded 25 wides vs 13 wides from Pakistan.

Those wides kinda sum up the series for Aotearoa A. While they are in challenging conditions and many of the squad are there for the experience, the difference in performances was striking. Now for the four-dayers, starting on Tuesday.

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Peace and love 27.