Date-stamped : 31 Jan94 - 14:51
Match Report: Pakistan v NZ 2nd XI, Trust  Bank  Park,  Hamilton.

====> Day 1, 31 Jan 94
Skipper Mark Greatbatch had no hesitation when winning the  toss,
so his openers Blair Pocock and Blair Hartland came out to bat on
a pitch that was fairly slow, but provided a bit of  bounce  when
the  bowlers  put  some effort in. None of the medium pacers were
too demanding, and the Kiwis got off to a good start.
Many pundits believe that the two Blairs are fighting for a  test
openers  berth alongside Young, and initially it was Hartland who
had the edge, easily outscoring his partner. However  the  Canta-
brian  was first to go, caught behind off Ashfaq one short of his
50.
Pocock was then joined by Graham Burnett, a man who is considered
by  some  to  have  the talent to be a test player in the future,
though his first class record is patchy. The pair went  to  lunch
at  105-1  and  were still together at tea, although only 87 runs
were scored during a slow second session. For most  of  this  and
the  third  session  the three seamers bowled from one end, while
the spinners were rotated at the other.
Pocock probably cemented his test place with this innings. As the
incumbent  he  must always have had the inside running after per-
formances in Australia where he usually did one of his two  jobs,
seeing  off  the  new ball but not being able to do much scoring.
Really an incumbent should have to do something pretty bad if  he
is to be dropped, unless his rival is in excellent form, and with
Martin Crowe out we despeately need a  settled  opening  combina-
tion.  Hartland  has a poor test record and hasn't even done that
much at first class level recently, relying on  one  day  matches
for  his  headlines. His best chance may be if Pocock is injured,
because he had quite a limp today.
After tea Ashfaq had the only really good bowling  spell  of  the
day,  unsettling  the batsmen by getting some bounce from the old
ball. He soon had Pocock for  95,  caught  behind  off  a  rising
delivery,  and in the same over the new batsman Howell was caught
at slip from a similar ball, although that had only psychological
impact  because the umpire had already called no ball. Soon after
Ashfaq had Burnett for 59, in exactly the same way that  he  took
the only other two wickets to fall to that time.
With Howell out for 1, unable to profit from his let off, the lo-
cals were 225-4, having lost 3 wickets for 14 runs. By now howev-
er Greatbatch was in.  From his very first ball he made as if to
charge  Ashfaq,  who dug it in short only for Greatbatch to smash
the shoulder length delivery over extra cover for three. With the
young spinner Hart providing willing support with 26 the pair ad-
ded 87 runs in 65 exciting minutes.  Greatbatch  reached  his  50
from  only  34 balls with 3 sixes and 6 fours, finishing unbeaten
on 65 at stumps. His side are on 318-5, and we may see  an  over-
night declaration.
It was a good day for the Kiwis, but Pakistan  have a  couple  of
bowlers  up  their sleeves who apparrently are quite fast. So far
the tourists have seemed to be a happy bunch, and have  said  all
the right things in their media interviews.
<END> Contributed by Jason (jmas@waikato.ac.nz)