Black Caps find late reward after long toil against Pakistan

By Kris Shannon

A long day of toil in the field produced some late reward for the Black Caps, as the second test seemingly headed for a second draw.

The tourists took four wickets in the final hour to make it six in total in day three, with Pakistan staggering to stumps on 407-9 in Karachi.

Like last week at the same venue, when bat reigned supreme over ball, the final test of the series appears to be creeping towards a stalemate, with the home side trailing by 42 runs at stumps.

Pakistan could have been in a stronger position if not for the struggles of their lower order, losing four wickets for 12 runs inside the space of five overs in the last session.

As Saud Shakeel (124 not out) occupied one end throughout the day, the spin pair of Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi were responsible for the damage in the final overs, though in some cases the shotmaking was equally to blame.

Whatever the cause, the Black Caps’ tiring bodies would have been buoyed by the late salvo, having been set to end a tough day with few opportunities to put themselves back on top after being dismissed for 449.

Pakistan resumed day three on 154-3 and continued consolidating throughout the first session. Opener Imam-ul-Haq eventually saw his stay ended on 83, when he feathered an edge behind off Tim Southee and watched as the skipper successfully executed a review.

Southee wasn’t quite so lucky in the last over before lunch, when Matt Henry thought he had Shakeel lbw but saw his vociferous appeal turned down. After a lengthy consultation between the fielders, Southee sent the decision upstairs and saw the ball both pitching outside leg and rising over the stumps, leaving the Black Caps with only one review remaining.

For a long time after lunch, it looked like they wouldn’t need it. With Sarfaraz Ahmed playing positively to register his third half-century of the series from 61 balls, Pakistan were threatening to progress through the middle session with barely a blip.

Given the comfort with he and Shakeel were batting, the Black Caps needed a change of pace, and that came in the form of Daryl Mitchell.

The allrounder had enjoyed few opportunities to emphasis that tag in test cricket but Mitchell needed only one delivery before he was celebrating wildly, believing he had Sarfaraz trapped in front only to be undone by a faint edge.

But Mitchell wasn’t to be denied for long and two balls later sent an unhappy Sarfaraz pack to the pavilion. The dismissal was a combination batsman error and Tom Blundell’s timing behind the stumps, with the wicketkeeper whipping off the bails down the legside at the precise moment Sarfaraz had barely raised his spikes.

The Pakistani might have disagreed with that decision but, regardless, it was a big blow in the penultimate over before tea, as Pakistan ended the session on 337-5.

Scoring slowed down after the break but the hosts’ control continued, aided by a rare miscue in the field from Tom Latham, who dropped Shakeel at short point from Southee’s bowling.

The No 5 would survive through to stumps but, fortunately for the Black Caps, his batting partners weren’t quite as safe.

The late flurry began when Michael Bracewell seized a clever catch off Agha Salman at first slip, with Patel again striking in his next as Devon Conway completed a catch on the boundary.

Sodhi was then introduced into the attack and quickly proved too good for the tailenders, bowling out Naseem Shah with a googly and, the next ball, striking the stumps of Mir Hamza with a beautiful legbreak.