CHRISTCHURCH: A classic century by captain Kane Williamson in an unbroken 215-run stand with Henry Nicholls hauled New Zealand into a strong position at 286 for three at stumps on day two of the second and final Test against Pakistan on Monday.

New Zealand, having recovered from 71 for three at the Hagley Oval, ended the day trailing Pakistan’s first innings 297 by just 11 runs with seven wickets in hand.

Williamson, newly installed as the world’s number one Test batsman in the ICC rankings, was unbeaten on 112 — the prolific right-hander’s 24th century.

Williamson’s latest hundred followed his innings of 251 in the first Test against the West Indies and 129 in the opening Test against Pakistan, while Nicholls ended the day 89 not out, following his 174 in the second Test against the West Indies and 56 in the first Pakistan Testin Mount Maunganui.

Even when New Zealand were in trouble there was a sense in the side that Williamson would save them.

“When you know you’ve got someone like Kane Williamson there you know you’ve got a pretty strong rock to change the tide of an innings,” said New Zealand batting coach Luke Ronchi, adding that Williamson had put New Zealand in a ‘fantastic’ situation.

“It’s him being him out there and it’s his own little world. He’s one of those players that make the game look really ease yet other people seem to find it not so easy. It’s brilliant to watch. When he does get to a score of 100 it’s just another run to him.”

It was Williamson’s third century in as many Tests in the past month, although fortune was on his side.

Late in the day, he was dropped twice and survived a run out when the bail had only partially dislodged in the split second it took to get his bat across the crease.

Pakistan, without a win in 10 away Tests since 2018, would have felt their luck was changing when New Zealand slumped from 52 without loss to 71 for three when the veteran Ross Taylor departed in the fifth over after lunch.

It could have been 74 for four when Nicholls was given out early, caught behind for three, only for the dismissal to be reversed by the TV umpire who detected Shaheen Shah Afridi’s delivery was a no ball.

With New Zealand in trouble, Williamson was all patience as he took 70 deliveries to reach 20, but he then put his foot down.

The next 30 runs came off 35 balls to reach 50 and he took just 35 balls to race from 50 to 100.

“It’s very difficult to get his wicket,” said Pakistan seam bowler Mohammad Abbas.

“We had some plans against him but he’s a world-class player. He took his time and when he settled at the crease he got some runs,” Abbas added. “We bowled well early but after tea some catches were dropped and that’s why we’re struggling.”

New Zealand started their innings on a positive note with openers Tom Latham and Tom Blundell sharing a 52-run stand.

The pitch, although drying, continued to offer the bounce and movement which New Zealand exploited on day one, but with Latham and Blundell taking guard well in front of the crease the Pakistan bowlers were forced to adjust their lines.

The breakthrough came when Faheem Ashraf had a ball jag back sharply and rap Blundell’s pads.

In the following over, tall left-armer Shaheen found the edge of Latham’s bat with the ball flying to Shan Masood who spilled the catch at second slip only for his blushes to be spared by the quick reflexes of Haris Sohail who grasped the rebound from first slip.

It was a period when the Pakistan quicks, having found a good line and length, had New Zealand in a vice-like grip.

In five overs either side of lunch, New Zealand scored only five runs before Abbas found the edge of Taylor’s bat and that time the beleaguered Shan, who had wretched series with the bat so far, made no mistake.

However, Shan later failed to pouch difficult chances from Williamson on 82 and 107, while stand-in Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan dropped Nicholls behind the stumps when the left-hander was on 86.

Williamson and Nicholls batted slowly, cautiously through the middle session to re-establish the innings, adding only 79 and grafting the first 50 of their partnership from 105 balls. The New Zealand run rate dropped to around 2.6 during the session as Pakistan’s bowlers kept up an accurate attack.

But Williamson accelerated as tea approached, taking a series of boundaries close to the interval and keeping up the tempo into the evening session as the aging ball made the Pakistan attack less threatening.

He went from 78 to 94 with four boundaries from the 60th over bowled by Naseem Shah; moved on to 95 with a single, to 99 with a pulled four from Faheem and then to his century with a further boundary off Faheem.

Williamson’s half-century had taken almost three hours and 105 deliveries; he went on to his century in 239 minutes from 140 balls, adding the second 50 from 35 deliveries in an hour.

In between, Nicholls also passed 2,000 Test runs but he ended the day limping after sustaining a calf muscle injury.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 297 (Azhar Ali 93, Mohammad Rizwan 61, Faheem Ashraf 48; K.A. Jamieson 5-69, T.G. Southee 2-61).

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings):

T.W.M. Latham c Haris b Shaheen 33

T.A. Blundell lbw b Faheem 16

K.S. Williamson not out 112

L.R.P.L. Taylor c Shan b Abbas 12

H.M. Nicholls not out 89

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-6, W-7, NB-9) 24

TOTAL (for three wkts, 85 overs) 286

FALL OF WKTS: 1-52, 2-52, 3-71.

TO BAT: B.J. Watling, D.J. Mitchell, K.A. Jamieson, T.G. Southee, M.J. Henry, T.A. Boult.

BOWLING (to-date): Shaheen Shah Afridi

19-5-45-1(1nb); Mohammad Abbas 20-7-37-1 (1nb); Naseem Shah 14-1-72-0 (7nb, 5w); Faheem Ashraf 18-4-55-1 (2w); Shan Masood 2-0-17-0; Zafar Gohar 11-0-50-0; Haris Sohail 1-0-2-0.

Published in Dawn, Jannuary 5th, 2021