New Zealand v. Pakistan - 2nd. Test

[Donny]

Wiseman replaces Jones in NZ squad

Lynn McConnell - Cricinfo

New Zealand have made one change to their Test squad for the second Test against Pakistan, which starts on Friday at Wellington's Basin Reserve. Richard Jones, the 12th man in the first Test at Hamilton, has been replaced by Paul Wiseman, the offspinner. Wiseman had been included in the squad of 13 named for the first Test, but was released to play State Championship cricket for Canterbury.

Squad 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Scott Styris, 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Chris Cairns, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Robbie Hart (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Paul Wiseman, 11 Daryl Tuffey, 12 Ian Butler.

[Donny]

Pakistan pining for Akhtar

From correspondents in Wellington - Fox Sports

PAKISTAN'S formidable bowling attack will be bolstered by the expected return of Shoaib Akhtar for the second Test against New Zealand, with New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming saying the outcome could be decided in his team's first two hours at the crease.

The Blacks received a huge wake-up call in the first Test in Hamilton when they amassed 563 in their first innings and then collapsed to 52 for seven then 96 for eight in the second before bad light and rain ensured a draw.

Mohammad Sami was almost unplayable as he reached speeds of up to 154 kilometres an hour and finished with five for 44 of 16 overs. Umar Gul was an able lieutenant and at one stage was sitting on a hattrick after clean bowling Chris Cairns first ball.

Akhtar missed the first Test through injury but if he passes a fitness Test before Friday it will add to the pressure on New Zealand.

"No doubt about it, the first two hours we bat against them in this next test is going to be very important," Fleming said.

"Shoaib hasn't had a lot of overs so the more we deny them the better chance we've got of posting a big score again."

There were mixed messages from the Pakistan camp about Akhtar.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq pronounced the Rawalpindi Express ready to return after recovering from hamstring and calf strains saying the team doctor had given him the all-clear, but coach Javed Miandad wasn't so bullish.

"I can't say at the moment but he's working hard ... and we have to see, it depends how he goes," Miandad said.

New Zealand may have taken the honours on the first three days of the first Test but in the second innings Sami ripped the New Zealand top order apart and threatened to engineer a win for Pakistan, with his victims including Fleming caught behind for a duck.

New Zealand's bowlers, Daryl Tuffey aside, were solid if unspectacular in Hamilton. With a little luck they could have forced a Pakistan follow-on but instead Moin Khan slayed his way to 137 and the match turned.

For the second Test they have added a second spinner, Paul Wiseman, to the squad after the Basin Reserve wicket took spin in a provincial match earlier this month.

[Donny]

Another baptism by pace

Lynn McConnell - Fox Sports

Will he or won't he? Shoaib Akhtar's prospects of playing in the deciding second Test between New Zealand and Pakistan Test at the Basin Reserve on Boxing Day is another element thrown into the mix in the lead-up to the match.

After Pakistan's outstanding recovery on the last afternoon of the first Test – a recovery which didn't result in much as the weather brought an early end to the game – New Zealand were left contemplating their possible defence mechanism against a combined pace attack of Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.

However, with Pakistan teams, selection matters are never straightforward issues. Their last tour to New Zealand in 2000-01 was buffeted by dissension in the ranks with Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar heading home midway through the tour, while Javed Miandad was hardly flavour of the month as coach.

So it is not surprising that contradictory comments should come out of their camp before the second Test. Inzamam-ul-Haq announced after the first Test that Shoaib would play at Wellington, while Miandad said there was still doubt.

Doubt is what will be in the New Zealand batsmen's minds as they prepare for the match. Sami created havoc with sheer speed on a benign pitch, and it was only a rearguard action by Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori that stopped the slide down the slippery slope.

New Zealand's only excuse was that the result of the match was already a foregone conclusion, but it was an indictment of the players' preparations that they were allowed to be lulled into that sort of thinking.

John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, would have recognised the signs – they have been all too familiar throughout New Zealand's history – and some hard talking is certain to have been dished out alongside the usual fare on Christmas Day.

There are several New Zealand batsmen with a job ahead of them to restore their batting credibility at Wellington. Lou Vincent has not recovered the touch he showed in the Test matches in India. Scott Styris needs to be able to stay longer in the middle order and to assess the requirement as the match proceeds.

Chris Cairns needs a long session in the middle to regain his best batting touch, while Craig McMillan needs to repeat his performances in India.

The bowling is under similar scrutiny. Cairns struggled in Hamilton, clearly short of long bowling stints. Although Ian Butler came back strongly in the later stages of Pakistan's innings, the team needs him to be firing from the outset.

Miandad may have been critical of Stephen Fleming's captaincy in his post-Test comments, but that smacked of Miandad's penchant for gamesmanship. His own side was much less inspiring in the field in New Zealand's first innings, and the bowling was quite aimless.

As always at Wellington, the weather, especially the strong winds, will be a factor. The fast bowlers need to be prepared to put in plenty of overs running into the breeze, something that Daryl Tuffey, Cairns and Oram all have the capacity to do.

Pakistan will have the task of deciding who their workhorse is going to be. That decision may be one of the more crucial choices in the overall outcome of the match. Speed downwind could help Shoaib and Sami in their quest for pace, but it will need to be well backed up from the other end.

The weather forecast for Wellington suggests that this Test will also be interrupted by rain. Showers are forecast for the first afternoon, and more rain is expected later in the match.

New Zealand (from) 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Scott Styris, 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Chris Cairns, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Robbie Hart (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Paul Wiseman, 11 Daryl Tuffey, 12 Ian Butler.

Pakistan (from) 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Yasir Hameed, 4 Yousuf Youhana, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Moin Khan (wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Shabbir Ahmed, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Danish Kaneria, 12 Shoaib Akhtar.

[Donny]

Shoaib Akhtar stikes in his second over.

Lou Vincent was bowled for a duck and New Zealand is 1/1.

Players are off the field because of bad light.

[Donny]

Akhtar gets Fleming, l.b.w. for a duck from the second ball after they come back on. He has 2/5 from 5 overs.

New Zealand are now 2/20.

[Donny]

N.Z. are 4/135 with Mark Richardson on 45 n.o. and Craig McMillan, 22 n.o.

Akhtar has 3/14 from 9 overs. Something strange going on there. He's had one 5 over spell for 2/5 and one 4 over spell for 1/9 from 59 overs.

Sami has bowled 19 overs and Razzaq, 18, for 1/89 between them.

[Donny]

At stumps, N.Z. is 5/151 with Richardson on 53 n.o.

Asoka de Silva continues to press for demotion from the elite umpires panel. He gave McMillan out, l.b.w. from an inside edge and then a quite obvious deflection from Hart's gloves to Moin was given not out.

Akhtar pulled up lame after his 14th. over.

[Donny]

Richardson leads the fightback after Shoaib burst

The Wisden Bulletin by Lynn McConnell


Having decided to bat first, New Zealand struggled to 151 for 5 on a day in which only 71 overs were possible in the second Test against Pakistan at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Shoaib Akhtar was the star performer for Pakistan, bowling with plenty of fire to take 3 for 14 from 11 hostile overs, but Mark Richardson retrieved the situation somewhat with a typically dogged unbeaten 53.

Coming back from a hamstring strain that kept him out of the first Test, Shoaib bowled fast enough to send at least one delivery down at 157 kmph, but he was also handled carefully by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Shoaib bowled only short spells, and that was still enough to cause all manner of problems for the New Zealanders. However, on completing his 11th over he pulled up lame and was in obvious discomfort when leaving the field.

The match started under gloomy skies, and only 2.5 overs had been bowled when the players went off for bad light. It was enough time, though, for Shoaib to create more misery for Lou Vincent (0), who was beaten by a quick delivery which crashed through his defences (1 for 1). When they returned 30 minutes after the lunch break, Shoaib trapped Stephen Fleming in front with his first ball, which was also the last of his still-to-be-completed second over.

It then became a battle for New Zealand to try and recover the situation. Richard Jones, playing his first Test, worked hard with Richardson but after scoring 16, Jones inside-edged an Abdul Razzaq delivery onto his stumps (41 for 3).

Scott Styris upped the momentum, using the straight-drive to good effect. By the tea break he had scored 25, only three less than the more stolid Richardson. Styris was on the offensive immediately after the break but a promising innings ended on 36 when Akhtar returned to the attack and bowled a fast rising ball which Styris failed to evade. The nick was easily taken by Moin Khan (94 for 4).

Styris was replaced by Craig McMillan, who shared a 51-run stand with Richardson. Richardson's patience was rewarded with the 17th half-century of his career, which took all of 262 minutes to achieve. But of the many battling, grafting innings Richardson has played for the country, it was among the most valuable. McMillan was beginning to grow in confidence when he received a controversial lbw decision from Asoka de Silva off Shabbir Ahmed. McMillan had scored 26 and television evidence showed an inside edge onto his pad (145 for 5).

Soon after, Robbie Hart, the nightwatchman, survived an appeal for caught behind off his gloves from Shoaib, a decision which upset the Pakistanis. Shoaib then bowled a short ball that struck Hart on the head. But in pushing for more pace, Akhtar strained himself and was unable to bowl the last over of the day. Richardson had been solid in defence throughout, and he will play the critical role in ensuring that New Zealand drive home the advantage of winning the toss.

[Donny]

New Zealand are 7/285.

Richardson made 82 and Oram is 71 n.o.

[Donny]

India got 366. So did New Zealand but those totals were achieved in almost opposite fashion.

N.Z. lost their first 2 wickets with 1 run on the board and were 4/94 and 6/171 before a 97 from Jacob Oram (at # and 44 from Vettori (#9) gave them a competative total.

Akhtar took 5/48 and Shabbir, 3/87.

Pakistan is 1/27 after Farhat (20) was dismissed by Oram.

[Donny]

Pakistan are 4/112.

Youhana is 33 n.o. and Inzi went for 34 to Oram (2/27)

[Donny]

Vettori claimed Youhana for 60 and Pakistan is 5/170.

[Donny]

Crash !!

22 y.o. Ian Butler, playing in his 7th. Test, ran through the tail to take 6/46 and help dismiss Pakistan for 196, 170 behind N.Z.

[Donny]

Shoaib Akhtar strikes early, again.

He trapped Vincent (4) l.b.w.

[Donny]

At stumps, New Zealand are 3/75 and the seemingly immoveable Richardson is on 35 n.o.

Akhtar has 2/12. N.Z. lead by 245.