Cricket: Pakistan fights back but Black Caps still on top in first round at Bay Oval

A piece of Mitchell Santner magic brought New Zealand back control of the first Test against Pakistan after a backlash partnership threatened to put the tie firmly on the table.

On a two-halves day, Pakistan staggered badly at 80-6 but refused to go down, with backup captain Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf combining for 107 spikey runs that threatened to wrest control from the hosts.

Their collaboration only ended due to an ill-advised race and a spectacular intervention by the New Zealand bowling jeep.

When Faheem threw a ball to the side of the leg, Rizwan spun by two. Santner charged from the middle fence, scooped up the ball with one hand and fired with his side arm, a shot that skimmed the rocks and hit a short dive Rizwan.

It was a relief to his teammates, as for the first time this summer, the four-prong attack seemed short of penetration and, perhaps, patience.

Trent Boult knocked out Yasir Shah shortly after, pitched clean for four, but Faheem continued on his arrogant path, at one point carving out four fours in back-to-back deliveries of Tim Southee, who was desperately seeking plots 299 and 300 to add to his legacy.

Enforcing the follow-up was never a likely scenario in this arena, but Faheem made the decision moot when he hit Neil Wagner in the square leg to carry Pakistan past 231.

Wagner got a measure of satisfaction by eliminating Shaheen Shah Afridi, trapped closely by Tom Latham for six.

The remaining intrigue was to see if Faheem could score an inaugural century, but that hope, and the day, ended when Kyle Jamieson caught him back for 91, with a total of 239, 192 runs behind.

It sets up an intriguing day four, when New Zealand must choose how aggressively, and potentially how long, to hit against a quality attack.

Pakistan started the day 30-1 trying to topple New Zealand’s 431.

What they lacked in hitting play they made up for in fortitude as everyone in the higher order, including the night watchman Mohammad Abbas, rushed to fight.

The problem was, they kept losing ground regularly enough to keep New Zealand excited.

Jamieson got the ball rolling when he broke starter Abid Ali on the thumb before hitting the stump.

Abbas’s 55-ball, five-run vigil ended when Boult found his lead, while Southee followed suit with Pakistan’s most successful hitter, Azhar Ali, for the same score. Referee Chris Gaffaney was unfazed until third referee Chris Brown transferred him via DRS.

Haris Sohail somehow threw a harmless-looking half volley into the hands of Henry Nicholls into the ravine to carry Southee to 298 proving grounds.

It’s one thing to lose windows if you’re scoring at a reasonable rate; Another thing, completely more problematic, is losing windows when the marker barely moves.

So in ’60, Pakistan found themselves 80-6 without appearing to have hit recklessly. This was not a West Indian-style capitulation, but rather a gradual cutting off of the oxygen supply.

The sixth wicket’s knockdown, the crab-shaped Fawad Alam finishing off a hook from Neil Wagner to BJ Watling, led Faheem to the fold and a sudden spike in score. With the second fresh ball lurking and a rested Jamieson waiting, Faheem and Rizwan took the opportunity to relax their shoulders.

They were starting to stride when a hailstorm, you read that right, drove the players off the field.

It was the start of an intermittent period, but the outages seemed to affect bowlers more than hitters. The boundaries began to flow and the first signs of frustration began to appear, with Jamieson throwing wildly and unnecessarily to the stumps after throwing his own bowling pin.

The new ball was taken as soon as it was available, but it did not bring an immediate change in luck.

Rizwan offered Southee a great opportunity on the second slip, but the ball passed before he reacted.

Things were starting to look a bit desperate when Santner intervened.