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The new test captain, Mohammad Rizwan, made 71 and Faheem Ashraf 91 to help Pakistan weather a high-level collapse, then counterattack on a day marked by torrential rain and hail to reach 239 before his last wicket fell in the last one tonight on the third day of the first cricket test against New Zealand.
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Santner’s game helped the Black Caps fire Pakistan for 239, leaving the visitors behind by 192 runs with two days to play. Source: Spark Sport
Rizwan reached the fold when Pakistan was 52-5 during a morning session in which it lost four wickets for 32 races. He left when he was 186-7 in the last session, having done everything he could to rescue his team from imminent danger.
With Faheem making his highest score in the trials and being the last man out, Rizwan put strength into Pakistan’s innings as he responded to New Zealand’s first innings of 431. Faheem out-scored Rizwan and played a few shots. sleek, some from streaks to rack up 15 fours and a six and making sure Pakistan avoided a follow-up to New Zealand probably wouldn’t have applied at the end of the day.
He took Pakistan past the 231 follow-up mark with a four from Neil Wagner’s pins 15 minutes before the stumps, which also took him past his previous high score of 83.
The seventh 106 wicket partnership between Rizwan and Faheem lasted 30 overs and began to look almost unshakable until a direct hit from Mitchell Santner from the middle of the wicket wiped out Rizwan at the end of the day. It was an unfortunate finish for the Pakistan captain, who proved his worth by substituting for the injured Babar Azam and hitting for three and a half hours and compiling his fourth half century.
Rizwan and Faheem first had to settle on a field that proved too difficult for most of Pakistan’s top hitters, then kept their composure when three heavy rains and an abrupt hail storm interrupted their advance.
New Zealand had consolidated their strong position in the match during the first session in which they captured the fields of Abid Ali (25), Mohammad Abbas (5), Azhar Ali (5) and Haris Sohail (3).
Pakistan resumed at 30-1 and Abid and Abbas challenged the pins for 12 overs before the first field of the day fell to Kyle Jamieson. Abbas took 37 balls to get off the mark, but played his role as a tough night watchman.
Abid was the first man out on Monday, thrown by Jamieson, who first forced him back with a ball that rose a bit and then hit him with a fuller ball while floating in his crease.
Trent Boult ended Abbas’s ’79 vigil, pitching and producing a ball that took the edge and gave Ross Taylor his 150th test catch on the slide.
Tim Southee later claimed the Azhar and Sohail lands at the same location. Azhar’s nick for goalkeeper BJ Watling was too weak for the field referee, but he couldn’t fool the TV replay and Sohail deflected a drive towards Henry Nicholls in the ravine.
Using Rizwan’s consistent example, Pakistan lost just one spot in the second session, which was shortened by rain and hailstorms that sent players off the field just before tea.
Fawad Alam and Rizwan were tested by a barrage of short pitch balls from Neil Wagner and Fawad succumbed when he hooked and was caught by Watling. Wagner took his full turn in the bowling area today despite sustaining a broken toe while hitting on the second day.
Faheem arrived at the end of the day needing 13 races for a first century of testing. He struck out, hitting the first ball for four, but outscored goalkeeper Watling to the next, leaving the ground to unanimous applause from his teammates.
