Pakistan shoot themselves in foot

Pakistan haven’t lost a test series in more than two years, but the world’s No 2-ranked side are staring squarely down the barrel in Hamilton, and you can’t help but feel they haven’t helped their own cause.

Caught on the hop somewhat in the first test defeat in Christchurch, having being sent in and struggling to adapt to conditions after a rained out warm-up game, the tourists had to show some fight in this second and final test at Seddon Park.

A clear motivator was to keep intact a proud unbeaten run of series, which could have notched eight on this tour, but now looks likely to be shot back to zero, with them 76-5 and trailing by 195 runs after day two.

After winning the toss and on a green pitch, periods of ordinary bowling combined with a couple of poor dropped catches at first slip from Sami Aslam, left New Zealand off the hook.

On the face of it, 271 might not seem wholly intimidating, but in the bowler-friendly circumstances it represented something much larger.

Pakistan just didn’t keep the pressure up for long enough spells, a bit like on day one, when they let Ross Taylor get away.

Sohail Khan, who ended with 4-99 off 25 overs, said his side struggled with a damp ball on the opening day, then acknowledged that the Kiwis racked up too many runs.

‘‘Yes, 270 shouldn’t be scored,’’ he admitted. ‘‘It is a bit on the high side on this pitch. The thing is, one good partnership from Pakistan can take us very close.’’

It will be up to the lower order to produce for the visitors. BJ Watling’s gritty 49 not out showed it wasn’t impossible to hang around, but Pakistan’s top order didn’t learn much from the nuggety Kiwi wicketkeeper, perhaps too caught up in their want to be aggressive.

They flayed at a dangerous Tim Southee far too early in their innings and fell to a miserable 12-3, before a couple of awful strokes – none worse than Mohammad Rizwan’s top-edged hook from his first ball in test cricket – left Neil Wagner with his tail up.