Southee happy 'to set the bar as high as we have' in the field

New Zealand might have narrowly missed out on a winning start to their tour against Pakistan, and were understandably disappointed, having conceded the first T20I by just two runs after having restricted Pakistan to 148/6.

But despite that, their fielding stood out. The manner in which they pounced, leapt and dived in order to save runs and take catches, it was like they had never been away at all even though it was their first game after seven months. Southee himself got things going with an excellent grab at backward point, before Glenn Phillips and Corey Anderson chipped in with excellent catches of their own.

"The fielding was outstanding, it's something we pride ourselves on, and it's always nice to set the bar as high as we have early on in the tour," Southee gushed before the second game. "It's one of the better fielding displays we have had in recent times.

"We started extremely well. They were 2/30 after six overs, but we know that this side are good scrappers in getting through to a par score so we knew we had to keep the pressure on. And our fielding was excellent. It just adds an extra bonus in the runs that we save and the catches that we take."

While the fielding was spectacular, New Zealand were found a little wanting in other areas, particularly batting. Apart from Colin Munro and Ross Taylor, none of the batsmen were able to get going, and that hurt them in the end.

"It's always disappointing to come up short in tight matches. If you can look back and reflect, there are a number of small moments in the game that could have been different and then the outcome could have been different, but it's nice to get back out on the park after seven months away," he said.

"We've come out here to win the series, and it's nice to get out there and play a game, but everyone's disappointed we didn't walk away with a win. They're very good side in these conditions and they are No.1 for a reason, so we know it's going to be a tough series. We've seen how close we can push them even though we didn't play as well as we wanted to. So we're looking for ways to improve.

New Zealand will have the chance to set thing right in the second T20I in Dubai on Friday, 2 November.