Cricket: Black Caps Hosted Exciting Final Test Day Against Pakistan

Fast terrain at the top of the order has put New Zealand in pole position to conclude Test 1 against Pakistan, although the visitors have shown they are ready to fight.

Captain Kane Williamson declared New Zealand’s second inning in the middle session on day four, leaving Pakistan with 373 unlikely to win.

The needle went from unlikely to near impossible after a sensational start from bowlers Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

With only his second installment, Boult had one sharply face Abid Ali, who could only throw her gloves in front of his face. BJ Watling dived in front of the first slide to catch him.

One later, and with Pakistan yet to open their second-inning account, Southee had Shan Masood hanging up her clothes and there was no need for Watling to intervene as the ball flew catchable height towards Ross Taylor.

Southee completed a memorable night when he had Haris Sohail meekly jump into short coverage to make it 37-3.

However, any hope for a quick conclusion was dashed when the elegant Azhar Ali (34 without 117 balls) and the crab Fawad Alam (21 of 55), entrenched themselves.

New Zealand won’t be too disturbed by the partnership, as they have 98 overs tomorrow and a fresh second ball if necessary, but they would like to see a little more of their only genuine spin option, Mitchell Santner.

Sometimes he would serve laps and bounce off the wicket on day four, but not consistently enough to upset any of the hitters. Alam in particular looked comfortable swinging back to throw and cut.

The fifth day is shaping up to be an important juncture in Santner’s test caretaker. The fifth day, fourth inning is when the spinners are expected to earn their corn.

After a first and a half pro forma session in which Tom Blundell honed his credentials and Pakistan unashamedly did nothing but try to restrict the scoring rate, the game got back on track in the second session.

New Zealand’s higher order ignored the damage to its Statsguru page and instead lunged for the fences.

Blundell (64) was the first to go, thrown by Mohammad Abbas when he was in charge.

Lefties Tom Latham (53) and Henry Nicholls (11) got caught on the fence making a hook, and in the middle Williamson skied a top edge into the tower while trying to smash one over the middle. The New Zealand captain has taken many shots throughout his career, none so disfigured.

BJ Watling ran out of the attempt for a crazy second and shortly after Williamson disconnected the inputs.

The biggest question he faced was how long he felt his bowlers needed to rule out an inexperienced lineup. He would also have known that for all his courage, Neil Wagner, a key fourth-inning weapon, was able to play only a limited role upon discovering he had two, not one, broken fingers.

Since the weather was not forecast to be a factor on the final day, the four-and-one-bit sessions felt good and when Pakistan was 0-2 after three overs, it looked even better.

Pakistan’s belated struggle has delayed, at least what it seems, the inevitable.