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WELLINGTON: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-haq produced a man of the match performance to ensure his side batted out the final day to draw the second test against New Zealand on Wednesday and claim their first series victory since 2006.
Misbah finished the day on 70 not out, following on from his 99 in the first innings, as Pakistan reached 226 for five at the close of play, 48 runs short of their victory target of 274, to wrap up the two-match series 1-0.
Adnan Akmal was two not out as the visitors claimed their first series win since they beat the West Indies 2-0 at home five years ago.
“It's pretty pleasing, we've been through some rough times but we've played some really good cricket in this series, we've been very disciplined,” Pakistan coach Waqar Younis told reporters.
“Full credit to Misbah and the boys, I think they all stuck to the task and managed to win the series.”
Misbah had shared in an 118-run stand with Younus Khan (81) – their second century-stand of the match – after New Zealand had threatened to spoil the visitors' day when they reduced them to 42-3 in the first session.
Chris Martin was particularly aggressive in the first session, taking 2-24 off nine overs and had the Pakistani batsmen frantically trying to see him off.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori also provided some concerning moments for the visitors, introducing himself in the eighth over and getting bounce from the harder ball and some turn out of the footmarks.
“KEY PARTNERSHIP”
Misbah and Younus, however, slowly but assuredly ground down the attack and for long periods during the session between lunch and tea looked to have given up any pretence of chasing down the target before they slowly began to increase the scoring rate.
New Zealand were given the slightest hope of a final session victory when Younus was caught by Reece Young off Tim Southee in the final over before tea.
“That was the key partnership, Misbah and Younus Khan,” Vettori said. “They're pretty experienced players and they know their game pretty well.
“The wicket was good and we just couldn't get that breakthrough early enough.
“I think even when we got Younus out before tea there was a chance there but we just needed to keep getting those breakthroughs to get into their inexperienced middle and lower order and we didn't get them.”
Misbah, who faced 172 balls and hit his fifth boundary to bring up his 50 after 255 minutes at the crease, and Asad Shafiq, however, continued to combine stoic defence and flirting with the possibility of launching a frantic final assault.
In the final hour, Vettori trapped Shafiq in front for 24 to leave Pakistan 215-5 and while the New Zealand bowlers attempted to rattle them with several vociferous appeals, Akmal and Misbah negotiated their way through until the close.
Martin finished with 2-63 off 24 overs, leaving him on 199 test wickets.
Scoredboard:
New Zealand 1st innings
M. Guptill c Adnan Akmal b Umar Gul 29 B. McCullum lbw Umar Gul 2 K. Williamson c Adnan Akmal b Umar Gul 21 R. Taylor c Adnan Akmal b Wahab Riaz 78 J. Ryder c Adnan Akmal b Tanvir Ahmed 0 J. Franklin c Adnan Akmal b Abdur Rehman 33 R. Young c Adnan Akmal b Tanvir Ahmed 57 D. Vettori c Misbah-ul-Haq b Abdur Rehman 110 T. Southee c Misbah-ul-Haq b Umar Gul 1 B. Arnel lbw Umar Gul 1 C. Martin not out 4
Extras (b 7, lb 1, w 10, nb 2) 20
Total (all out; 127.1 overs) 356
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (McCullum), 2-46 (Williamson), 3-98 (Guptill), 4-98 (Ryder), 5-166 (Franklin), 6-180 (Taylor), 7-318 (Young), 8-322 (Southee), 9-338 (Arnel), 10-356 (Vettori)
Bowling: Umar Gul 32-3-87-4, Tanvir Ahmed 25-5-93-3 (1nb, 2w), Younis Khan 1-0-9-0, Wahab Riaz 16-3-46-1 (3w), Abdur Rehman 45.1-11-96-2 (1nb), Mohammad Hafeez 8-0-17-0.
Pakistan 1st innings
Taufeeq Umar c Guptill b Vettori 70 Mohammad Hafeez c Young b Southee 1 Azhar Ali c Taylor b Martin 67 Younis Khan c Ryder b Vettori 73 Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Martin 99 Asad Shafiq c Taylor b Vettori 0 Adnan Akmal c Martin b Vettori 22 Abdur Rehman c McCullum b Martin 5 Umar Gul c McCullum b Martin 19 Tanvir Ahmed c Taylor b Southee 7 Wahab Riaz not out 7
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 2, nb 1) 6
Total (all out; 133 overs) 376
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Mohammad Hafeez), 2-134 (Taufeeq Umar), 3-144 (Azhar Ali), 4-286 (Younis Khan), 5-294 (Asad Shafiq), 6-324 (Adnan Akmal), 7-333 (Abdur Rehman), 8-360 (Misbah-ul-Haq), 9-363 (Umar Gul), 10-376 (Tanvir Ahmed)
Bowling: Martin 32-7-91-4, Southee 28-7-102-2, Arnel 16-4-50-0, Franklin 9-1-30-0, Vettori 47-11-100-4, Guptill 1-1-0-0
New Zealand 2nd innings
M. Guptill lbw Abdur Rehman 73 B. McCullum c Tanvir Ahmed b Abdur Rehman 64 K. Williamson c Adnan Akmal b Tanvir Ahmed 15 R. Taylor lbw Umar Gul 52 J. Ryder b Mohammed Hafeez 17 J. Franklin c Younis Khan b Mohammed Hafeez 6 R. Young c Azhar Ali b Abdur Rehman 20 D. Vettori b Umar Gul 1 T. Southee not out 22 B. Arnel lbw Umar Gul 0 C. Martin c Adnan Akmal b Umar Gul 1
Extras (b 2, lb 6, nb 13, w 1) 22
Total (all out; 90.5 overs) 293
Fall of wickets: 1-120 (McCullum), 2-166 (K. Williamson), 3-166 (M.
Guptill), 4-192 (J. Ryder), 5-208 (J. Franklin) 6-268 (R. Young), 7-268 (R.
Taylor) 8-275 (D. Vettori), 9-275 (B. Arnel) 10-293 (C. Martin)
Bowling: Umar Gul 20.5-4-61-4, Tanvir Ahmed 10-0-36-1, Abdur Rehman 39-6-119-3, Wahab Riaz 8-1-38-0 Mohammed Hafeez 13-3-31-2
Pakistan 2nd innings
Mohammad Hafeez c Taylor b Martin 32 Taufeeq Umar lbw Southee 0 Azhar Ali lbw Martin 10 Younis Khan c Young b Southee 81 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 70 Asad Shafiq lbw Vettori 24 Adnan Akmal not out 2
Extras (lb 6, nb 1) 7
Total (5 wickets; 92 overs) 226
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Taufeeq Umar), 2-35 (Azhar Ali), 3-42 (Mohammad Hafeez), 4-160 (Younis Khan), 5-215 (Asad Shafiq)
Bowling: Martin 24-6-63-2, Southee 15-2-49-2, Vettori 34-13-57-1, Arnel 9-5-17-0, Franklin 5-1-6-0, Guptill 3-0-16-0, Ryder 2-0-12-0
Toss: New Zealand
Result: Test drawn
Man of the match: Masbah-ul-Haq
Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS), Rod Tucker (AUS)
Third umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)
