Sharjah: New Zealand dominated the second day of the third and final Test match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium through a sterling all-round performance. Off spinner Mark Craig shattered Pakistan’s hopes of posting a first innings total of over 500 runs with a career best spell of 7 for 94. Pakistan crashed from a commanding 285 for 3 to 351 all out just before lunch.
New Zealand then raced to 249 for 1 through their skipper Brendon McCullum’s belligerent unbeaten 153 runs off 145 balls studded with 17 boundaries and eight sixes. His 198 runs unbeaten partnership with Kane Williamson, who is unbeaten on 76 with seven fours and one six, has placed New Zealand in an imposing position. They trail by just 102 runs with nine wickets in hand.
It was a spectacular display of off-spin bowling from Craig who maintained an immaculate line and length, flighted the deliveries with superb control and drifted the ball at times and even generated turn out of a barren wicket.
McCullum’s 10th Test century was equally delightful to watch. He mixed aggression with caution and some of the shots he played were breathtaking. Time and again he swatted the ball past cover and cut powerfully to pick boundaries with ease. He even displayed his reverse sweep shot confidently. His only bad shot was his edge past keeper and slip to bring up his 150 runs.
McCullum hit left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar for four out of his eight sixes. He also hit two sixes off leg spinner Yasir Shah to dominate the Pakistan spinners. All of his sixes were perfectly timed. Williamson played the supporting role with elegance, not allowing the bowlers to dominate at any stage.
Pakistan’s slide began from the fourth over of the day with skipper Misbah Ul Haq falling to Tim Southee without adding to his overnight score of 38. Most Pakistani batsmen fell to careless shots. Misbah chased a wide ball from Southee and nicked to the wicketkeeper. It ended the 125 runs partnership between Misbah and Mohammad Hafeez which had placed Pakistan on top on the first day.
Hafeez, who was just three short of his double century, played an unwarranted pull-shot off Ish Sodhi and top edged to Trent Boult at deep square leg. It was a sad end to a superb innings which contained 25 boundaries and three sixes and came off 316 balls. In the next over, Asad Shafiq swept Craig straight to Sodhi at square leg for 11. Craig also removed the dangerous Sarfraz Ahmad by forcing him to edge his drifter to the wicketkeeper for 15.
The large number of Pakistan fans who had gathered to make it a memorable Friday were stunned by their team’s fall. Craig picked up his fifth wicket when Mohammad Talha decided to hit his way out of trouble by lofting straight to Tom Latham at long on for a duck. Rahat Ali too fell for a duck playing Craig into the hands of Ross Taylor at slips. It was Taylor’s 100th catch in Test cricket and he celebrated it by catching next man Yasir to help Craig complete a memorable seven-wicket haul. If not for Yasir, who hit 25 runs, Pakistan would have been bowled out for an even smaller total, as they lost seven wickets for just 70 runs. New Zealand showed their excitement at having bowled out Pakistan quickly through a whirlwind start to their innings. McCullum and Tom Latham put on 51 runs in just 8.4. overs before Rahat Ali forced Latham on 13 to top edge him to square leg and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmad raced for the shot and took a well-judged catch.
Williamson then joined McCullum and the duo virtually tore apart the Pakistan attack.
