First day abandoned New Zealand v Pakistan Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Jeet Raval will have to wait little longer for his first taste of Test cricket after intermittent rain meant no play was possible on the opening day of New Zealands 2016-17 home summer in Christchurch. Covers were on for most parts of the day at the Hagley Oval, which meant even the toss wasnt possible.With chances of a start looking bleak, umpires S Ravi and Ian Gould called off play at 4pm, shortly after the scheduled tea interval. Play will start 30 minutes early on each of the next four days - at 10.30 am - to make up for lost time, weather permitting, although intermittent showers are forecast for the second day too.There was hope of a start time shortly before lunch when the sun broke through to allow Pakistans players a football session, but the rain returned soon to force them indoors. A scheduled inspection at 2.45pm had to be called off as the drizzle persisted.Pakistans preparation coming into the two-Test series has been less than ideal. Their three-day practice match in Nelson was completely washed out. They arrived in New Zealand last week straight out of a long series comprising three T20Is, three ODIs and three Tests against West Indies in the UAE.Pakistan have not lost a Test series in New Zealand since 1985. They won by a 1-0 margin, also under Misbah-ul-Haq who is set to captain in his 50th Test, on their previous tour to New Zealand in 2011. Edmonton Oilers Store . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Wholesale Oilers Jerseys . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. https://www.cheapoilers.com/ . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Edmonton Oilers Gear . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Edmonton Oilers Pro Shop . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. With the playoffs of the North American League Championship Series finished, its time for the Regional Qualifiers, a gauntlet-style tournament that features the four teams remaining: Team Envy, Team Liquid, Cloud9, and Immortals.Last year, Cloud9, a team that was seeded the lowest, took down the gauntlet in a series of memorable reverse sweeps and could very well repeat that same feat this year in a higher seed. And with everything on the line -- the winner of the Regional Qualifier will earn the final seat into the World Championships as a representative of the NA LCS collective -- they might want to catch momentum early this time around.Consider Cloud9 your favoritesImmortals may have the easiest road to the World Championships with just one best-of-five set, but Cloud9 remains the best team left in the bracket. Last time, the boys in blue managed to take down the Immortals in the semifinal match of the NA LCS. It was a battle of adaptations, but C9 had the right players step up to the plate. Whether it was William Meteos Hartman on his Gragas or Jung Impact Eon-yeongs pressure against Seong Huni Hoon Heo, C9 was more than enough to match up against the lineup of Immortals.The strength of Cloud9 is in their ability to transition from the laning phase to the midgame. Despite a relatively weak early phase, the team crushes the field of competition when it comes to rotations, ganks, teamfights, vision and map control. C9 prioritizes champions that have disruptive properties in fights and the duo core of Nicolaj Jensen Jensen and Zachary Sneaky Scuderi make up the best tandem of damage-dealers in the NA LCS. But this is not a team without cracks.C9 stumbled against Team SoloMid in the finals of the NA LCS with two exposed weaknesses: drafting and late game strategy. Team SoloMid took advantage of C9s stubborn approach to draft Gnar and set Impact up. C9s late game strategy was nonexistentt compared to its opposition and the lack of sharp decision-making and map control harpooned the teams chances for a victory.ddddddddddddYour runners-up might just be ImmortalsTeam Liquid and Team Envy may be involved in the Regional Qualifiers, but both are so far gone compared to either C9 or Immortals. Immortals will have the best chance to qualify for the World Championships, but only boast the second-strongest lineup left in the field. Its easy to summarize Immortals: fast-paced, aggressive and stubborn.The lineup strength starts with the duo of Kim Reignover Yeu-jin and Huni. The pair equates to the teams early game. Moreover, the underrated support play of Adrian Adrian Ma is the backbone that really makes this team flourish. Immortals high-octane pace is possible through Adrians ability to control vision and his great mobility throughout the map. If Reignovers rotations and support are important in the early game, Adrians ability to be in the majority of the teams minor skirmishes is the key to Immortals ability to snowball.At the same time, the teams weaknesses also fall back on the duo of Reignover and Huni. Because of the teams reliance on the pairs ability to steamroll in the laning phase, its easy for teams to draft against them. Immortals, in the playoffs, averaged a -773 gold deficit after the first 15-minutes. The teams lack of a true carry could potentially hurt its chances as well. In addition, teams like Counter Logic Gaming were playing to the strength of Immortals, and succeeded for the most part.It was a pace that was easily mimicked. What was once its signature and trump card was used against the lineup. A team like C9 that can fight well and execute great strategy in the midgame can take full advantage of a blaring weakness like this. ' ' '