Cricket: Captain's knock cuts through gloom

Daniel Vettori trudges off after being dismissed for 99 at University Oval in Dunedin yesterday. Photo / Getty Images

Sport can be cruel, and it can also take place on the most soulless stages.

There was a bit of both at University Oval yesterday as New Zealand captain Dan Vettori was cut down one run short of a fifth test hundred after four hours of conscientious work, a ball before bad light ended a badly truncated day in the first test against Pakistan.

New Zealand will start day three at 404 for eight but so ably did New Zealand's senior pair of Vettori and Brendon McCullum bat in the morning session that they shut the door on Pakistan's bowlers and made almost certain that there are only two results on the table.

Neither would seem to involve a Pakistani victory, although there's an old line about chickens hatching that is worth remembering.

If New Zealand's experienced attack can get among Pakistan's batsmen they could take the whip hand into tomorrow; then again, if Pakistan's batsmen can do what Vettori and McCullum did so impressively yesterday, it might turn into a tough grind all round on a pitch which will likely get slower and lower as the test wears on.

"There's still three days to go but if we bowl well we'll give ourselves a good opportunity," McCullum said last night. "It all depends on how we bowl."

Vettori had something to savour yesterday, overtaking Shane Warne as test cricket's most productive No 8 batsman. But he's unlikely to have popped a champagne cork last night after a bitterly frustrating end to the day.

Rain cost three hours through the afternoon, but the umpires decided the ground was fit to restart at 6.35pm.

Vettori, resuming on 87, clubbed the first ball to the fence, crept up to 99 before edging hard-working Umar Gul to the wicketkeeper. He is the eighth New Zealand batsman to be dismissed for 99.

Had he got one more run, it is doubtful a New Zealand century has been achieved in a more dispiriting environment. No more than 50 spectators were on hand under grimly dark skies. There were many more enjoyable places to be. Still, they all count, as Vettori was doubtless left to rue.

Vettori and McCullum added 164 in three and a quarter hours, falling 22 short of the New Zealand seventh wicket record against Pakistan, set by Warren Lees and Richard Hadlee at Karachi 33 years ago.

They had to scrap through the first hour and both took their lumps from the fast-medium bowlers.

Vettori was in the wars. He had his neck tweaked by the team's physiotherapist in the opening minutes, then got struck on the right shoulder by a Mohammad Asif bouncer, followed by missing a pull shot and having another delivery bounce off his left shoulder on to his helmet grill.

On top of that, his timing wasn't quite right, but he's a remarkable cricketer and he scores his runs at a decent clip by the various means at his disposal.

He cuts cleverly, drives firmly and has a hugely effective back-foot clump through mid wicket.

McCullum took a ferocious blow on the left side of his helmet from sharp left armer Mohammad Aamer, but the pair stuck at the job and were well rewarded.

They were assisted by some gormless field placings and a sense that the bowlers were meandering as the morning wore on, their zip drained by the New Zealand pair's resolute work.

McCullum got an inside edge to a full length ball from Gul just before lunch, ending a worthy innings at 78. Now it's the bowlers' turn.

Martin, Bond and O'Brien sounds like an accounting firm. If they get their sums right on a pitch with a bit of help for smart, resourceful, seamers, whisper it but they could move New Zealand into a formidable position.