Second Test: Pakistan hold slight advantage against New Zealand at tea
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first in the second and final match of Test series against Pakistan being played at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wellington-c864. Until tea, the hosts managed to score 147 runs for the loss of four wickets.
The start wasn’t a good one for the home side as star batsman Brendon McCullum failed to get going. He got out in the very first over of the day to a ball that swung-in and struck his pads. The only thing that could have saved him was the height, but the umpire raised his finger.
Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson didn’t take too many chances and played carefully, but Williamson got out after getting 21 runs. The batsman edged the ball and wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal didn’t make any mistake behind the stumps.
The vice-captain of the Kiwi team then joined Guptill at the crease, and both batsmen put together a fifty-run stand for their team. Guptill was very patient until he slashed at one short ball outside off-stump, and only managed to get a faint edge to it.
He got out for 29 after facing 97 balls. This must have been disappointing for the team and Guptill, as he yet again failed to capitalise on a good start to his innings. The bigger disappointment was Jesse Ryder, who got out on the very first ball he faced.
It was the all-rounder James Franklin who joined Taylor in the middle, and both batsmen took the team to 147 runs until tea. The positive thing for the home team was that Taylor didn’t lose his focus and scored a half century.
Taylor was unbeaten on 65 before the end of the session. Franklin also looked solid and scored 21 runs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 scores a century, it will be a big confidence booster for the team.
Pakistan will be pretty happy with the performance of their attack bowlers. Umar Gul got the early breakthroughs for the team, and Tanvir Ahmed provided some great support with his accurate spells. Both bowlers took two wickets each.
Adnan took three catches out of the four wickets to fall until tea, and he may be eying a record number of catches in an innings, if he can clutch on to a few more.
The last session will be important for both teams. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 will look to grab a few more wickets before the close of play, while the hosts will be hoping to play out the remainder of the day without any further losses.
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