New Zealand v Pakistan - First Test

Seddon Park, Hamilton

NZL: GM Turner, MH Richardson, BE Congdon, MD Crowe, *JR Reid, JV Coney, RJ Hadlee, +KJ Wadsworth, RC Motz, J Cowie, SL Boock.
PAK: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Saeed Ahmed, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, *Imran Khan, +Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Intikhab Alam, Fazal Mahmood, Waqar Younis.

Debuts: J Cowie (NZL) & Moin Khan (PAK)
Umpires: FR Goodall & BL Aldridge
Toss: Pakistan

At 11:24 on the fourth morning, Waqar Younis wrote his name into the history books when he trapped Stephen Boock lbw to complete the first ever ten wicket innings haul in ATG cricket history. New Zealand had been skittled for 87 - for the second time in the match - and one of the more remarkable Tests in recent memory had come to an end with Pakistan victorious by the tidy margin of 324 runs.

It had all begun in quite different circumstances however, for when New Zealand bowled out the tourists for just 237 on the first day it was the Kiwis, not Pakistan, who seemed to be on top. Richard Hadlee emerged from his recent trough in form to claim 5-60, Jack Cowie bowled well to pick up three wickets on debut, and as Pakistan tried to hit their way out of trouble the ball seemed to spend most of the day flying either off the middle of the bat or the outside edge. Imran was the only member of Pakistan's top eight not to reach double figures, but Zaheer (51) was the only player to reach 50 as the Blackcaps bowled a beautiful collective line. Countless appeals were turned down by the umpires over the course of the day, but New Zealand appeared to have bowled themselves into what looked to be a strong position nonetheless.

However, Waqar knocked over both Richardson and nightwatchman Motz before stumps to leave New Zealand 8-2, and although 29 from Congdon helped move the total on to 44-2 on the second morning, that was to be the high point of New Zealand's day as Waqar and Fazal Mahmood blew away the remainder of the innings to leave the Kiwis 87 all out, their lowest total in ATG Tests and the fifth lowest overall. Waqar finished with 5-41, all his victims either clean bowled or lbw, but this was only a warm-up for what was to come.

New Zealand now faced a deficit of 150, but undaunted they continued to bowl well, and under a heavy shroud of cloud cover on the third day Richard Hadlee completed both his best innings and match returns as Pakistan were again restricted to a score of under 300. Saeed Anwar passed 1000 career runs during his 19, but there were few other highlights for Pakistan until Akram and Intikhab combined to produce a rapid 80 run partnership for the eighth wicket, during which time Akram posted just the second 50 of the match. Cowie suffered particularly harshly during this stand, but Hadlee continued in metronomic fashion to finish with innings figures of 6-93 and a match analysis of 11-153, leaving New Zealand with an unlikely 412 to win, although with almost half the match still remaining they would have plenty of time to get them.

By the end of the third day the Blackcaps' innings was in tatters for the second time in the match though, with the scoreboard reading an astonishing 48-7 at one stage as Waqar simply demolished the opposition with a spell that was the very definition of unplayable. He found alarmingly late swing almost from the off, and the innings became a procession as the ball either zeroed in on the stumps or found its way into Moin Khan's gloves with monotonous regularity. Moin enjoyed an excellent debut as the injured Wasim Bari's replacement - seven catches plus two attacking cameos with the bat - but it was now all about Waqar and the Kiwis simply had no answer.

The third day ended with New Zealand 83-8 (Waqar 8-42), and those few spectators that showed up on the fourth morning were rewarded with ATG cricket's first ever ten wicket haul. Hearts were in throats as Akram bellowed a confident appeal for caught behind against Cowie in the day's third over, but a shake of umpire Aldridge's head left the door open for Waqar, and in his next over he made no mistake. Motz failed to cope with a toe crushing yorker, and two balls later Boock was given out lbw by Fred Goodall, a decision that was followed by scenes of jubilation from Waqar and his teammates; the fact that Boock appeared to edge the ball into his pads just seemed to go by the wayside.

Waqar of course bowled brilliantly, but New Zealand's batting display had been abject in the extreme, especially in the second innings, and although there were murmurings from inside the hosts' camp that the way in which the Pakistanis had been treating the ball throughout the match was not entirely conventional, the decisiveness of Pakistan's 324 run victory could not be denied. Waqar's final figures were 21-8-44-10, and his match return of 15-85 was also an ATG record, and despite there having been little more than three days' play in this Test match, there had been more action and drama than one might hope for over the course of an entire series. The second Test in Christchurch will be a true test of character for the Kiwis, and Pakistan's record breaking 14 match unbeaten run does not look like coming to an end any time soon.

Scores
PAK 1st Inns 237 (Zaheer 51, Javed 46; Hadlee 5-60)
NZL 1st Inns 87 (Waqar 5-41)
PAK 2nd Inns 261 (Akram 50, Javed 49, Hanif 47; Hadlee 6-93)
NZL 2nd Inns 87 (Waqar 10-44)

PAKISTAN WON BY 324 RUNS

Man of the Match: Waqar Younis