http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 lose advantage
The final session of the third day of the second Test match between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and Pakistan being played at Wellington turned out to be a good one for the home team.
Pakistan were dismissed for 376 runs after they started the session at 286 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.
Asad Shafiq was unable to open his account and was the first man to be dismissed in the final session. He edged one ball from Daniel Vettori which went low to the slip fielder Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 who clutched it neatly.
A cameo from the wicketkeeper batsman Adnan Akmal ended after he top-edged the ball trying to play a sweep off Vettori. He scored 22 runs in his short innings.
Wickets kept on falling after that and the biggest disappointment came for the Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq. He played well throughout his innings but was dismissed just one-run short of a century. This was the sixth consecutive score of fifty-plus for
the Pakistan captain in Test cricket.
Umar Gul played a few strokes to give Pakistan a small lead of 20 runs in the first innings. He scored 19 runs and was the fourth victim of Chris Martin.
The star of the show for New Zealand was their captain Daniel Vettori who dismissed four of the Pakistani top-order batsmen. He was well supported by Chris Martin who is nearing his 200th Test wicket. Martin took four wickets and is now just three
away from the milestone.
The home team had to face five overs in the day and they managed 9 runs in those overs. The important thing for the Kiwi team was that no wicket fell in that short stint.
At close of play on day three, Brendon McCullum was unbeaten on 6 runs whereas his partner, Martin Guptill was not out on 1.
The game is evenly poised at this stage and all three results seem possible. The first session of the fourth day will be important for both the teams in deciding the outcome of the match.
If Pakistan take a few early wickets in the morning session, it will be difficult for the home team to survive. On the other hand, if McCullum gets going, it will be hard for the visitors to contain him.
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