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Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Dambulla

DAMBULLA, Thursday - A final sans host nation Sri Lanka is what the local cricket fans will be forced to witness at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium tomorrow when Pakistan play New Zealand for the Bank Alfalah Cup.

Apart from Sri Lanka's absence, the final will also be devoid of a showdown between two of the quickest bowlers in contemporary cricket - Shane Bond of New Zealand and Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan. Each of them are out of their teams for different reasons.

Sri Lanka's exit from the competition would have been a bitter blow for the organisers and the numerous television viewers, but the manner in which they performed throughout the tournament makes their departure justifiable.

Although they bowled and fielded brilliantly they have big question marks in their batting to solve, especially where consistency is concerned.

Thus the two teams that made it to the final it can be said, played the better cricket in the competition to get there than Sri Lanka. Although all three teams ended up on a equal win and loss record (2 wins, 2 losses), it was the bonus points that eventually knocked Sri Lanka out of the final. The three bonus points New Zealand gained put them on top of the table with 13 (10+3), followed by Pakistan with 12 (10+2) and Sri Lanka 11 (10+1).

Sri Lanka skipper Marvan Atapattu said that winning was important to his team than going for bonus points because he was so uncertain about his team's batting. Not one batsmen played an innings of authority.

New Zealand speedster Bond has returned home with a back strain, while Akhtar has been banned for two one-day internationals after being found guilty of tampering with the ball.

Akhtar's absence has given the New Zealand camp confidence to press for only their second win in an overseas one-day tournament. The only previous occasion they won was in 2000 when they beat India in the ICC mini-World Cup at Nairobi. On that occasion all-rounder Chris Cairns played the stellar role with an unbeaten century.

Stephen Fleming who was the captain said: "We have a very good chance.

Shoaib's absence evens up the two teams as we have lost Shane Bond, our main strike bowler." Fleming was confident his team was capable of delivering the goods tomorrow.

"The way we have played in the last two games has led to the confidence growing. The wicket gave more confidence to the batters the other day and performance of the bowlers has been pretty good," said Fleming.

"There could be an element of luck, you have got to get on the right side of it, but usually the best teams turn it to there advantage. I was encouraged by the way the pitch held together," he said.

The pitch for tomorrow's final will be the same as that used for the New Zealand-Pakistan game on Tuesday which Pakistan won by 22 runs.

"Pressure is going to be the key thing. We can absorb it a bit better with the more experience we have got. It may be posting a score and trying to put them under pressure later in the day," said Fleming.

"We have somehow got to create some pressure early on in the game so that the young players of Pakistan feel the pressure of a final situation. We are confident of putting a good show. They have got some talented players like we saw the other day with Shoaib Malik who helped win the game in both departments.

"We are very respectful of their ability and what they can do when they are hot. We have got to unsettle them early. We have got the experience and that has got to count for something. We have some big players with us who are in there to perform in the big games," Fleming said.

He said if the wicket is the same as that given for Tuesday's game a score of 200-210 will be sufficient for a win.

New Zealand are expected to make one change to their team composition. They will play an additional seamer (Jacob Oram) or retain off-spinner Paul Wiseman.

The Pakistan camp brushed aside the absence of fast bowler Akhtar and said that they don't depend on just one player to win matches for them, but on all 11 players.

Pakistan captain Rashid Latif admitted that Akhtar was a world class fast bowler and would be missed. "If we win tomorrow we will dedicate the game to Akhtar," he said. The tall lanky Shabbir Ahmed will take Akhtar's place in the line up. Pakistan have also dropped opener Taufiq Umar and giving Faisal Athar his first one-day international cap.

Latif said that Taufiq was dropped because of bad form. His scores in the tournament have been 9, 21, 3, and 2. He said that Faisal has got a lot of runs in the domestic season.

"The team is playing as well as they did in Sharjah and I am confident of winning. New Zealand are a good side. In Fleming they have one of the best captain's in the world, Chris Cairns is a dangerous player, Daniel Vettori bowled well against us and Sri Lanka. With Scott Styris, Andre Adams and Oram they are team better than us," said Latif.

"On this wicket if you have some skilful players you can make some runs. I think it is difficult for the batsmen in the morning session. The wicket is bouncing and seaming and in the afternoon there is spin on the wicket. It is a very good wicket and it suits us," he said. Latif said that if he won the toss he would bowl first.

"My boys are confident and they know what is required of them. The main thing is they are devoting full time to cricket. This is a good sign," said coach Javed Miandad. "I am not worried about winning or losing. I always tell them they've got to play good cricket. If we play badly obviously we don't deserve to win. If we play positive and good cricket and lose it doesn't matter. This is part of the game. This is the way you learn. The wickets were not easy for them to perform so I don't blame them for failing," he said.

"You can't keep changing the team all the time. The players must be given time to prove themselves if you keep changing the team after every game for the matter of winning, then you can't make a team. If you want to make a long term team one should not worry about losing," said Miandad.

Miandad said that any team cannot rely on one person. He said if Akhtar was in the side he would have given the team more confidence, but he expected contributions from all 11 players.

The teams:

PAKISTAN: Rashid Latif (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Faisal Athar, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhanna, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria.

NEW ZEALAND (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Chris Nevin, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brian McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Paul Wiseman, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey.

UMPIRES: Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Daryl Harper (Australia), TV umpire: Gamini Silva (Sri Lanka), Match Referee: Gundappa Viswanath (India).

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