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New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson celebrates during the second day of Test 1 against the West Indies at Seddon Park in Hamilton on December 4, 2020.
Kai Schwoerer / Getty Images
A classic century of Kane williamson A 215-run position with Henry Nicholls put New Zealand strong at 286 for three on stumps on the second day of Test 2 against Pakistan on Monday.
New Zealand, having recovered from 71-for-3 at Christchurch, finished the day behind Pakistan’s first innings 297 by just 11 runs with seven wickets in hand.
Williamson, newly installed as the world’s number one test hitter, was undefeated at 112, his 24th century, with Nicholls at 89.
It’s Williamson’s third century in so many trials in the last month, although fortune was on his side. At the end of the day, he was dropped twice and survived a run when the bail was only partially dislodged in the split second it took to get his bat across the fold.
Pakistan, without a win in 10 away events since 2018, would have felt their luck was turning as New Zealand fell from 52 without a defeat to 71 by three when Ross Taylor started in fifth after lunch.
It could have been four of 74 when Nicholls came out early, trapped behind, only for the TV referee to reverse the ejection that found Shaheen Afridi’s pitch to be a non-ball.
With New Zealand in trouble, Williamson was patient as it took 70 deliveries to get to 20, but then put his foot down.
The next 30 runs went from 35 balls to 50 and it took another 35 balls to run from 50 to 100.
When Nicholls entered his eleventh half century with a two squared, Pakistan was well aware of the consequences of Afridi’s lack of the ball when the southpaw was at three.
New Zealand started their innings on a positive note with starters Tom Latham and Tom Blundell in a 52-run position.
The field, though dry, continued to offer the rebound and movement that New Zealand took advantage of on the first day, but with Latham and Blundell taking guard well ahead of the area, the Pakistani bowlers were forced to adjust their lines.
The breakthrough came when Faheem Ashraf jerked the ball back and hit Blundell’s pads.
In the next over, Afridi found the edge of Latham’s bat with the ball flying towards Shan Masood, who spilled the catch on the second slip only for his quick reflexes from Haris Sohail to avoid the blush, who grabbed the rebound from the first slip.
It was a period when the Pakistani rapids, having found a good line and length, had New Zealand in a vice-like grip.
In five overs either side of lunch, New Zealand scored just five runs before Abbas found the edge of Taylor’s bat and this time Masood made no mistake.
Masood then failed to take advantage of difficult opportunities from Williamson at 82 and 107, while Mohammad Rizwan dropped Nicholls at 86.
