MOUNT MAUNGANUI, Dec 28: New Zealand’s bowlers took a couple of rain and hail shower delays in their stride and slowly broke down Pakistan’s stubborn resistance to help the hosts take control of the first test on Monday.
Faheem Ashraf was dismissed for 91, his highest test score, just before the close of the third day’s play at Bay Oval as Pakistan were bowled out for 239, still 192 runs behind New Zealand’s 431.
The tourists had been facing the prospect of being asked to bat again after captain Mohammad Rizwan was sensationally run out by Mitchell Santner for 71 to end a 107-run partnership with Faheem that left them 187-7 with about an hour to play.
Faheem, however, saw them past the follow-on and was dismissed with five minutes left in the day’s play.
The tourists had resumed on 30-1 on Monday and then lost four wickets for 13 runs before Rizwan and Fawad Alam stopped the rot.
Rizwan and Faheem continued that resistance with their partnership across the middle and final sessions, which were disrupted twice by showers that forced players off the field. (Agencies)
