Pakistan crushes http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 by 10-wickets in first Test
The first Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand seemed to be heading for a nail-biting finish, until the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 bowlers embarrassed the home team to win the match by a convincing ten wickets.
Pakistan were 235 for 4 at the start of the third day. Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 and youngster Asad Shafiq were the overnight unbeaten batsmen with fifties to their names. Both players were dismissed with the total at 256, after adding just 21 runs to the overnight
score. The home team would have been delighted with the double strike early in the day. However, the tail-enders along with wicketkeeper batsman Adnan Akmal took the team out of trouble, and extended the first innings lead to 92-runs.
The top scorer for Pakistan was Asad who scored 83 runs, while Misbah scored 62. Taufeeq Umar and Adnan were the other main contributors with 54 and 44 respectively. The pick of the bowlers for the New Zealand team was Brent Arnel. The right-arm medium pacer
took four wickets in the first innings. He was well supported by veteran fast bowler Chris Martin, who took three wickets.
The black caps would have hoped to do well in their second innings as the wicket seemed to be perfect for batting. However, some exceptional bowling by Pakistan and rash batting from the Kiwi batsmen, saw the team dismissed for a total of 110 in their second
innings.
The innings started nicely for New Zealand, but some poor shot selection by Tim McIntosh cost him his wicket. He advanced down the track to play a lofted shot and found himself stumped by Adnan. Brendon McCullum played very well until he edged the ball to
the gloves of Adnan. The flamboyant Kiwi opener top scored with 35. Wickets kept on falling regularly, as Martin Guptill and Jesse Ryder were the next batsmen to be dismissed.
To make things worse for the team, Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 was run-out by Misbah and the team lost their top six batsmen for just 61 runs. Kane Williamson was the next Kiwi wicket to fall. Tim Southee came to the rescue of his team in the first innings, but he wasn’t
able to repeat his heroics and managed just 17 runs. The Kiwis were dismissed with just a lead of 18 runs.
The hosts had somehow managed to avoid an innings defeat, but couldn’t avoid the embarrassment of a 10-wicket loss. Only four batsmen were able to reach double figures in New Zealand’s second innings.
Pakistan were jubilant after winning the match. Both the Pakistani openers reached the target within four overs. The bowlers played a vital part in the win as Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz took three wickets each to bowl-out the home side.
Abdur Rehman was named the man of the match following his six wickets in the match, coupled with some handy runs in the first innings.
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