Date-stamped : 19 Feb94 - 22:25 New Zealand vs Pakistan. 2nd Test, 17-20 Feb 94 Basin Reserve, Wellington ====> Day 1, 17 Feb 94 A very warm day in Wellington today, and a pitch which was not as green as at Eden Park last week, but was still likely to seam a bit early. Core samples suggested dry on the surface but with plenty of moisture lower down. Both teams looked to spin today, Pakistan replacing the injured Mushtaq with off spinner Akram Raza, straight off the plane, and New Zealand including slow left armer Matthew Hart for his test debut. That meant that with Cairns out and Morrison back in, Owens carried the drinks. Anyone who thinks Wasim and Waqar can't bowl with the new ball should cast an eye upon this series. The first session today was a virtual carbon copy of Eden Park. Waqar bowled at up to 135kph today, with Wasim about 15kph slower on average. But it is not pace per se that causes problems for the batsmen. Neither is it pace and movement. The problems posed by these two are the combination of pace, movement both ways, and variation. It is not easy for the batsmen to get these in the middle when they can't read the line until it is frequently too late. Even if they can judge the line, they can't play confidently through it if they don't know what the pace is going to be. Still less can they if the wicket produces variable bounce. Wasim bowled mostly away swingers from over the wicket. Quite a number of these came back in off the pitch. So anyone looking to leave it could end up looking very silly instead. There again, he can bowl the inswinger as well. He doesn't try to bowl too fast, preferring to put it in the slot and so give the batsman maximum chance to go wrong. The one that got Young lbw to the 4th ball of the innings pitched on leg but straightened enough to hit middle and leg. He also tries a few round the wicket just to mess the batsman up a bit. Waqar also bowled away swing as his stock ball in the early stages. He also was able to bowl the inswinger - two of them in fact - one reasonably gentle, and the other a real looping brute which is invariably the yorker as well. Waqar doesn't appear to seam it as much as Wasim, but at 135k is potentially more lethal with his swing. Waqar also bowls deliveries with about 25kph pace taken off them. These can swing even more than usual. He bowled a couple which swung and seamed in the same direction (usually in). The batsmen will usually reckon on a major victory when these two are out of the attack, but the other thing about them is that neither is a short-spell wonder. Both can bowl until kingdom come if necessary. Today they were on until just after drinks, when Ata came on and bowled economically to lunch. Ata bowls mostly inswing with not too much variation, but he too is capable of getting them through at around 125kph. Only 19, he has good po- tential. If he is not respected, the batsman can get out, which is what happened to Pocock. He played an inswinger towards leg and was consequently bowled. Lunch 2-49, with Raza having a cou- ple of looseners as well. After lunch a hiccup for Rutherford who late cut Ata straight to Raza at 2nd slip first ball he faced - a real lack of concen- tration this one - but the real battle was between Greatbatch and the Pakistan seam attack. The battleground was the short ball with which Greatbatch had had problems in Auckland, not getting the bat out of the way when taking avoiding action. It was very similar to his battle with Mushtaq at Auckland. He eventually succumbed exactly as Malik had hoped, but not before he'd taken 45 runs, mostly off short stuff. Honours, as at Auckland, even. He played a pretty responsible innings really considering his form of late. So had Jones. Earlier, he was out lbw moving about the crease to Ata, but he got 43 and played better than he did in Auckland. After that it was just a matter of how long it would take Pak- istan to wrap the innings up. Thomson never looked at all likely, playing just about everything crease-bound. He went, predictably, bowled (chopped on) by Wasim anchored to his crease with his bat a long way away. His test career is now at the crossroads. NZ got to tea at 6-132 with Hart and Blain still in, but the innings ended at 175 giving Pakistan an hour's batting at the end of the day. New Zealand bowled reasonably well and Morrison had the wicket of Sohail right at the end for 2. Saeed Anwar hit everything that there was to hit, and some more, in reaching 30*. Honours today well with Pakistan and NZ have a lot to do to even up the ball game. From Saturday onwards, the weather looks like- ly to play a part. Contributed by Geoff.Bethell (srg3lib@*grace.cri.nz) ====> Day 2, 18 Feb 94 Saeed Anwar hit a sparkling 169 for his first Test century as Pakistan overwhelmed New Zealand on the second day. The 25 year old left hander headed a Pakistan run feast as they roared on to 398 4 in reply to the Kiwis' sorry 175. Saeed cracked 26 boundaries as he scored his 169 in 307 minutes and 249 balls with three other players notching half centuries. The only bad news for Pakistan was the disclosure that Asif Mujtaba suffered a broken finger on day one. Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk) ====> Day 2, MORE Comments: Another very warm day in Wellington today, and a pitch which had flattened out and browned off since yesterday. The bounce was still a bit variable but this was low-normal with nothing getting up. The figures (363 runs scored for 3 wickets) suggest a massa- cre, but the reality was a little different. True, from lunch on- wards, it was a batting feast but there was plenty of opposition from the NZ bowlers in the first two hours. Early on, Morrison bowled very accurately, and with his standard away swing, from close to the stumps, he got rid of nightwatchman Raza almost im- mediately with a short one and kept the pressure up for the whole of his spell. If Morrison could get one or two to move back in off the seam he would be devastating. At the other end Doull, and the whole of the NZ cordon, were convinced Anwar got an inside edge to Blain without addition to his overnight score. Umpire Bird thought otherwise. This was to be a very bad omen for Tony Blain who had a bad time of it behind the stumps in that 2 hours. Later, he put down Anwar off de Groen - another inside edge - and missed a sitter of a stumping chance given by Basit Ali who was about 2 metres down the wicket. The stumping chance was off Matt Hart`s bowling. Yesterday Hart, who is making his debut in this test, acquitted himself well at the batting crease. Today he did very well with his slow left armers. When he came on the Pakistan batsmen were looking to dominate him from the word go but, in his first 5 overs, he could easily have had both Basit and Anwar. Basit in particular, and quite apart from the missed stumping, seemed far too loose and guilty of not respecting his opponent. He almost played on once, and had one or two lofted just between the field from uncon- trolled shots. Then again Anwar, noticing the long-on, tried to hit Hart over mid-wicket but got it between three fielders. Hart looks to be the sort of player with a good temperament who could do well in test cricket provided he has enough ability. He got the odd one to turn. But there is no disguising that this was Saeed Anwar`s day. Prior to today he hadn`t passed 20 in test cricket. Today was pay day. He scored 169 in quick time, with a high percentage of boun- daries, before getting run out in a mix up with Malik over a third run. He gives the bowler a bit of a chance, particularly early on when he is apt to chase wide ones, but the stroke play displayed today showed a player of the highest class. The essence of his play is timing and placement, and good wrist work. He would just ease into a straight push with the minimum of fol- lowthrough and the ball would reach the boundary on this quick outfield somewhere within the "V." So good was his timing that he was able to do this to the SPINNER. He is prolific on the square boundaries too, particularly to leg. He doesn`t hook and pull much (not today anyway), but he has this graceful on drive which he sends on its way with a flick of the wrists. Finally, to point, he sends a wristy cut away. Anwar partnered Basit Ali for much of his innings. They put on 197. After a very shaky start when he was collecting boundaries to the unprotected third man region, Basit showed a similar abil- ity to score pretty well all round the wicket. Not so wristy or graceful as Anwar, but effective nevertheless. He was bowled for 85, exposing his leg stump to Thomson whilst attempting a sweep. Basit had been promoted in the order for Asif Mujtaba who has a double break in a finger. Asif won`t play again here, but no replacement is being considered as yet. In complete contrast, later in the day we had Malik and In- zamam together at the wicket. Malik peppered the cover boundary and Inzy the mid-wicket boundary, largely with shots off the back foot. These two put on an unbeaten 108 when conditions were at their easiest and the bowlers were tiring. They successfully weathered the new ball. Pakistan now have a lead of 223, and even that may be enough. The weather should just about hold up for tomorrow, but may pack up on Sunday. Malik played the last few overs cautiously today, so it seems unlikely that a declaration will be made overnight. Contributed by Geoff.Bethell (srg3lib@*grace.cri.nz) ====> Day 3, 19 Feb 94 A windy day in Wellington today, and the clouds started to roll in from the front to the north. We got through the day OK today, but tomorrow may well be an on-again-off-again day. No pitch change since yesterday. It was brown and easy paced, but with a tendency for the odd one to keep low. Pakistan ground on remorselessly today, and there was noth- ing of real note. Two in-form batsmen hit an already demoralised at- tack to predictable parts of the ground without ever looking likely to be dismissed. That was the main point - the inevitabil- ity of it all. Malik and Inzamam put on a total of 258, 150 of them today in one session and 20 minutes. They might well have pulled out at lunch, but it is better for psychological reasons to give only the 10 minutes notice. The declaration came at the fall of Malik's wicket. His was Matthew Hart's first test wicket and he earned it, if only for his bad luck yester- day. He bowled as well as anyone and showed good test match tem- perament. New Zealand came out for their second innings with a deficit of 373, a pretty hopeless position, but, on this wicket, with every chance of making a good score. With rain about, escaping with a draw was not out of the question. Wasim drew the short straw for the into-the-wind job, but he and Waqar had New Zealand 2-6 very early. Once again the lack of a classy opening pair put NZ on the back foot. Pocock was caught on the crease, squared up, by a good length 135kph ball from Waqar and couldn't keep it out, hopelessly beaten for pace. Young was a little unlucky to Wasim. He tried to withdraw, couldn't quite manage it, and the ball just caught the bottom edge and on to the leg stump. Pocock is a young player and will probably not play in Christchurch. He started off promisingly in his first test against Australia at Perth, but has been unable to build on that. Way down on confidence, he needs a break but may come again. Young is not really one for the future and will likely be retained, despite obvious technical problems. He is a sucker for the caught on the crease lbw. His ability in the slips will not be overlooked. NZ has nobody else in the current squad anywhere near as good. At 2-6, Jones and Rutherford came together. This was the most interesting cricket of the day. W&W weren't getting as much swing and seam as they did on the first day, but they were still very demanding for all that. Both batsmen took the attack to the bowlers in a reasonably controlled manner. Jones took far fewer chances, waiting to play his favourite back foot off side shots. That is how a test innings should be played by a top order player. He looked very solid today and was on 66* at stumps. Rutherford lived a little dangerously, but was determined to take every possible boundary from the short ones. Also he was the one NZ batsman who tried to get on the front foot to Wasim and Waqar whenever possible. Both players were good at keeping out the many yorkers on offer, and profited from those which weren't quite there. Rutherford got his hooks and pulls work- ing perfectly to- day and is one of those players who scores square on both sides even though those shots can get him out. In Australia, it was the hook and pull which were his downfall. Back home, it has been the late cut and the steer through gully. Today was no exception. As in the first innings, he late cut Ata in the air into the cordon. Raza took him at 3rd slip. He has scored heaps of runs with this shot in the past and must surely keep on playing it. He got 63 today, but if he had been able to remain calmer after he had made a mess of a cut shot, he may have lasted until stumps. That little mistake disturbed his equilibrium. He scored more freely through the covers off the front foot than usual. In many ways, the best Pakistani bowler today was the new off spinner Akram Raza. He bowls mostly flat, but he is usually able to have the batsmen in trouble when he flights it every now and again. He got a little bit of slow turn, and was more economical than anyone. He often had the batsman in doubt as to which foot to play from. Later, Greatbatch didn't do much and went out caught at the wicket as usual. But this time it wasn't the right armer angling across him who got him, it was Wasim. Thomson came in after that and dominated (from a run scoring point of view) an unbeaten 46 run partnership with Jones. He hit some good ones through the covers off the back foot, but not all of them after good foot- work. He lives to fight another day with Jones. Some of the Pakistani ground fielding was dreadful today, but with such a lead the committment was not quite what it might have been otherwise. The quicker bowlers were particularly guil- ty. Skipper Salim Malik seemed to have some difficulty rotating his bowlers with respect to that wind. Both Ws had longish spells into it, whilst Ata was largely let off. Given fine weather it is difficult to imagine Pakistan not wrap- ping this game up by sometime tomorrow afternoon. Contributed by Geoff.Bethell (srg3lib@*grace.cri.nz) ====> Day 4, 20 Feb 94 Former skipper Wasim Akram produced Test career best figures of 7-119 as they crushed New Zealand by an innings and 12 runs. He removed Andrew Jones (76) and Shane Thomson (47) inside his first four overs after rain had washed out the morning session. Akram then flattened Matthew Hart's off stump but Tony Blain led a bold effort by the New Zealand tail. He hit 13 fours and a six in his 78 but Akram finally removed him and Pakistan went on to take a winning 2-0 lead in the series. Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk)