New Zealand 309 for 6 (Conway 122, Latham 71, Salman 3-55, Naseem 2-44) vs Pakistan
Play in the evening began with Abrar Ahmed bowling his 15th over in a row – albeit separated by the tea break. Naseem then beat Kane Williamson’s outside edge on the first ball of the second over after resumption, only for replays to show a faint tickle. That was a sign of things to come, as Naseem kept clocking 140kph while reversing the ball against both Williamson and Conway.
But it was Salman who struck first, getting the ball to dip and turn away from Conway, who went jabbing and edged behind to Sarfaraz Ahmed in the 63rd over. Next over, Naseem pitched one perfectly on the fuller side of a length on fourth stump, with Williamson’s outside edge also landing in the gloves of Sarfaraz, who went low and tumbled in front of first slip to complete the grab.
That left New Zealand with virtually two new batters at the crease in Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell, with the latter happy to take a good stride forward and getting across off stump to try and negate the movement Naseem got it. Naseem tried going around the wicket – and with it, wide of the crease – to the left-hander Nicholls, as both he and Salman tied the two batters down.
That is when Mitchell fell to a classical offspinner’s dismissal, missing his clip across the line when Salman tossed one up outside off and got it to turn in through bat and pad, and hit off stump. With the ball having split its seam, the umpires changed it immediately after.
But Pakistan stuck to Hasan Ali and Salman, as they kept the scoring in check, with the fast bowler preferring to go short, and the offspinner teasing the batters with loop. Salman got his third just seven deliveries before the second new ball was due, although credit for that would go to Babar Azam.
Standing at slip, Babar was the only one who reacted and half-appealed after Nicholls tried to slash a short ball outside off turning away from him. He opted for the review at the last second after umpire Aleem Dar ruled it not out and UltraEdge showed a little snick behind to Sarfaraz.
Tom Latham and Devon Conway added their second successive hundred-run partnership•Associated Press
That was the fourth of Dar’s 12 decisions overturned throughout the two Tests on this tour. And New Zealand slid further when Abrar, expensive throughout the day, hit Michael Bracewell flush in front to get him for the third time in as many occasions in the series. The visitors were six down, as Tom Blundell and Ish Sodhi saw them off to stumps.
But Conway also had some fortune going his way throughout. Pakistan had reviewed a not-out verdict by Alex Wharf when Conway, on 39, was beaten by one that angled in off a good length, only for the ball projected to be going over the stumps. When he was on 86, an outside edge fell short of the lone slip and two overs later, when Conway was on 89, Hasan induced an edge to gully, where Saud Shakeel spilled it after diving to his right. Conway finally reached his hundred in the 52nd over, when he flicked Mir Hamza between mid-on and midwicket, as New Zealand piled on the misery on Pakistan.
After opting to bat, New Zealand raced to 54 in the first 11 overs before a quiet period slowed them down. Latham also was ruled out lbw by umpire Wharf, before he used the DRS to reverse it, having inside edged it onto his pads.
Eventually though, the day ended in fine balance, as Pakistan hit back in the evening session, with New Zealand losing their way from a dominant 234 for 1 to only a stable 309 for 6.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo