Pakistan's Fawad Alam and captain Mohammad Rizwan put together a big partnership. Photo / Photosport
Pakistan's Fawad Alam and captain Mohammad Rizwan put together a big partnership. Photo / Photosport
The final day of the first cricket test between Pakistan and New Zealand was one for the purists.
An absorbing contest of courage and application tested the patience and discipline of players and fans alike.
The crowd streamed in for free at Bay Oval for the first test in fiveto go the distance in this country.
New Zealand needed seven more wickets and Pakistan needed 302 more runs to secure a result, starting on 71-3.
The stage was set for Pakistan's Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan to ensure test match cricket lived up to its name, gritting out a cornerstone to the day's narrative with their fifth-wicket stand of 165. Who could begrudge their desire to eke out a resistance and a counterattack? Each had contrasting reasons to succeed for the common cause.
Pakistan's Fawad Alam and captain Mohammad Rizwan put together a big partnership. Photo / Photosport
Fawad was potentially playing for his position. He returned to the team in August against England after almost 11 years in the test selection wilderness. The 35-year-old had scored 35 runs in five innings since that recall. His unorthodox open stance, pointing to square leg before exercising a monster trigger movement, goaded the New Zealand bowlers with a full view of the stumps before crouching across at the point of delivery. The methodology worked, particularly square of the wicket, as he ground out 102, his second test century.
Rizwan, playing his 10th test and first as captain during Babar Azam's injury-enforced absence, got in behind the ball and forced the bowlers to follow him. Black Caps captain Kane Williamson staked catchers on the off and leg side throughout the first two sessions, but his opposite stayed regimented on his way to 60.
A definitive period came when the second new ball arrived 12 overs before tea. Pakistan needed 204 from 48 overs, a required run rate of 4.25. Fawad and Rizwan saw off the initial hardness and shine when Trent Boult and Tim Southee returned. After tea, their attacking intent was clear, accelerating with boundaries in four of the opening six overs, to keep pace with the chase demands.
Fawad Alam of Pakistan celebrates his century with Mohammad Rizwan. Photo / Getty
Eventually both succumbed, Rizwan lbw off the knee roll to Kyle Jamieson, and Fawad gloving a short-pitched Wagner delivery down the legside to BJ Watling with an attempted pull.
You only had to look at the standing ovations outside the Pakistan dressing room to see what their contributions meant.
