Southee joins the 300 club
The Black Caps will head into the fifth day of a test for the first time this year today, still needing seven Pakistan wickets to complete a fifth win in a row at home.
Tim Southee took his 300th test wicket and Neil Wagner continued to bowl despite confirming a second fractured toe as they reduced the visitors to 71-3 after 38 overs in their second innings on the fourth afternoon of the first test in Mount Maunganui yesterday.
Southee reached the milestone
At a glance
Tim Southee’s journey to 300 wickets:
v England in Napier; March 22, 2008, Michael Vaughan lbw for 2
v India in Bangalore; September 2, 2012, MS Dhoni lbw for 62
1:
50:
100:
v West Indies in Hamilton; December 21, 2013, Veerasammy Permaul lbw for 0
v Australia in Adelaide; November 28, 2015; Adam Voges caught Martin Guptill for 13
v Bangladesh in Christchurch; January 23, 2017, Shakib al Hassan caught Colin de Grandhomme for 8
v Sri Lanka in Colombo; August 26, 2019, Dimuth Karunaratne lbw for 21
v Pakistan in Mount Maunganui; December 29, 2020
in his eighth over, when he tempted Haris Sohail to hit one to Mitchell Santner at cover while on nine, after earlier getting Shan Masood caught by Ross Taylor at first slip for a duck.
Trent Boult struck in his first over, removing Abid Ali with one that went across him and gave wicketkeeper BJ Watling a catch behind the stumps.
Wagner wasn’t with the Black Caps as they took the field after tea, having pulled up sore while warming up during the break, but after receiving an injection and sending down a few deliveries in the nets out the back of Bay Oval, he rejoined his teammates and got through six overs, where his speed was well down from its usual level, before heading for an early shower.
It was revealed on day four that he had fractured the fourth and fifth toes in his right foot, after initial X-rays at the end of day two had suggested he had fractured only the fourth.
The Black Caps batted for most of the first two sessions after dismissing Pakistan for 239 in their first innings at the end of day three, enough to give them a 192-run lead.
They faced few obstacles as they looked to expand their advantage, with Tom Blundell (64) and Tom Latham (53) both notching half-centuries before a late flurry took them to 180-5.
When captain Kane Williamson waved Taylor and Santner in, the Black Caps’ lead was 372, which meant Pakistan were set 373 from a minimum of 136 overs.
By stumps, the equation had become 302 from aminimum of 90 overs with Azhar Ali not out on 34 and Fawad Alam alongside him on 21.
At the end of the third day’s play, Pakistan batting coach
T Latham c Abid Ali b N Shah .... 53 T Blundell b Abbas ........................... 64 K Williamson c Rizwan b N Shah .. ....................................................................... 21 R Taylor not out .................................. 12 H Nicholls c Abbas b N Shah ........ 11 BJ Watling run out .............................. 5 M Santner not out .............................. 6 Extras (2lb, 1w, 5nb) ........................... 8 Total (for 5 wkts dec, 45.3 overs) . ....................................................................180 Fall: 111 (Blundell), 139 (Latham), 147 (Williamson), 165 (Nicholls), 170 (Watling).
Bowling: S Afridi 11-0-47-0 (1w), M Abbas 11-2-33-1 (1nb), N Shah 12.3-1-55-3 (4nb), F Ashraf 4-1-18-0, Y Shah 6-0-21-0, S Masood 1-0-4-0.
150:
200:
250:
300:
NEWZEALAND First innings 431 PAKISTAN First innings 239 NEWZEALAND Second innings
PAKISTAN Second innings
S Masood c Taylor b Southee ...... 0 Abid Ali c Watling b Boult .............. 0 Azhar Ali not out ............................... 34 H Sohail s Santner b Southee ...... 9 F Alam not out .................................... 21 Extras (4b, 2lb, 1w) .............................. 7 Total (for 3 wkts, 38 overs) .......... 71 Fall: 0 (Abid Ali, 0 (Masood), 37 (Sohail).
Bowling: T Southee 9-5-15-2, T Boult 10-4-24-1 (1w), K Jamieson 7-6-3-0, Nwagner 6-3-4-0, M Santner 6-1-19-0.
Younis Khan had called on Williamson to make a brave declaration and keep both teams in the contest.
Whether he did that was arguable – 373 would be the eighthhighest target successfully chased in the history of test cricket – but one thing for certain was that Pakistan were out of the contest almost as soon as they’d started to bat, though the prospect of a draw remained alive.
The Black Caps need a win if they are to keep alive their hopes of making the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in England next June, and they gave themselves 34 more overs than they needed to bowl Pakistan out in the first innings of this match.