New Zealand succumbed to the fear of the unknown when deciding to bowl first on the new portable pitch in use for the first Test of the National Bank series at Eden Park in Auckland today.

Taking up a defensive stance, New Zealand then paid the price for the decision by seeing Pakistan amass 270/4 by stumps.

Younis Khan was the man who stood in the way of the home team finishing the day on top with an unbeaten innings of 91 which seems certain to land him with his third Test century tomorrow in his 10th Test match. He played a classic innings which was suited to the requirements of the situation by mixing some attacking stroke play with determined defence.

He made New Zealand pay dearly for dropping him twice. The first occasion was on five when wicket-keeper Adam Parore missed a hard chance diving low to his right from Craig McMillan's bowling, while Mathew Sinclair at gully dropped a chance from him when he was on 64, again from McMillan.

Not even the new ball, taken as soon as it was available, could break the stubborn 132-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

Faisal Iqbal, the 19-year-old nephew of Pakistan legend, and coach on this tour, Javed Miandad proved a patient support and was unbeaten on 42 after 169 minutes of batting while facing 139 balls.

He faced some torrid moments, especially at the hands of New Zealand's best bowler of the day Daryl Tuffey.

Tuffey came into the match under an injury cloud but he bowled extremely well and his first over to Faisal had him struggling to stay in. Several times he played and missed only for Tuffey to see the ball slide by the edge of the bat.

But once under way he displayed many of the Miandad mannerisms, a rock-solid defence with a shot played with the minimum of backlift yet arriving at the ball in good time. The shuffle down the pitch to get to the bounce of the ball and walk off to square leg between deliveries all brought back memories of the old master.

Pakistan manager Fakir Aizazuddin said the side was delighted with the way all the batsmen played on the day, but especially Younis, who demonstrated the traditional Pathan fighting spirit, and Faisal who only arrived in New Zealand 23 hours before the Test started.

"Under pressure Faisal played very well, he worked the ball around and had a very good defensive technique.

"We are grateful to our board that they allowed him to come out and play. What we really wanted was a batsman who could hold up one end for us and he has done that.

"He suffered some cramp in his forearm in the last hour, that was due to jetlag and the lack of sleep he has had," he said.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who did not really get the support he needed from his young attack having put the Pakistanis in, could only say that the scoreboard at the end of the day did not represent a good day's work.

The wicket of Younis, on five, would have made a massive difference to New Zealand's day and would have opened up the Pakistan tail.

"We lacked control early and bowled too many four balls. Tuffey was outstanding today and looked dangerous every over he bowled. We had enough opportunities but we didn't take them," he said.

Pakistan made a solid start to the game putting on 46 for the first wicket, which fell just after the drinks break when Saleem Elahi touched an outswinger which was taken by Adam Parore.

Imran Farhat, making his Test debut at the age of 18 batted effectively to see the 50 up before he was out when on 23 he touched a ball and was again caught by Parore, but this time from Chris Martin's bowling.

Yousuf Youhana came in and immediately went onto the attack and scored 50 off 67 balls, including eight fours, but no sooner had he got there than he tried to cut a ball from Martin that was too close to him and was out for 51.

Eight runs later Misbah-ul-Haq, who had added 78 runs with Youhana, was out, caught at close gully by Mathew Sinclair from Craig McMillan's bowling.

That was to be it for New Zealand, and unless they can breakthrough early on the second morning, chances are that a total of 500 could be looming against them.

© CricInfo