Cricket: Rain washes away chance of victory

BJ Watling's display was perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the Napier test. Photo / Getty Images

NAPIER - New Zealand could only wonder at their meteorological misfortune last night, the weather depriving them of a likely series victory over Pakistan.

Chasing 208 in a minimum 43 overs for a 2-1 series win, the rain arrived at 5.34pm and cut short a strong New Zealand chase, inspired by debutant BJ Watling.

His bracing 60 off just 62 balls had New Zealand on course for the win, he and Tim McIntosh having got to 90 off 19 overs before the skies opened.

And so the game of "what ifs" began - chief among them what if the pitch had been more suited to test cricket, as New Zealand captain Dan Vettori pointed out last night.

"You don't want batting to be at its best on the fourth and fifth days," he said. "You want variable bounce on the fourth and fifth days, you want it to get harder and harder to bat on. This wicket got better and better, but every time we come to Napier we probably say the same thing."

Another imponderable: what if Pakistan's key batsman, Umar Akmal, had edged the second ball of the day to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum or first slip Ross Taylor - standing a pace wider than usual - rather than between them. Equally, what if Misbah-ul-Haq and, four balls before lunch, Mohammad Aamer had not played brainless shots to gift their wickets away, slogging at Vettori's left arm spin.

The early departure of Akmal would have opened things up for New Zealand's bowlers; conversely had Misbah and Aamer used their noggins, the eventual task may well have been way beyond New Zealand's reach.

Either way, the rain stopped any chance New Zealand had of picking up their first win in nine tests at McLean Park. The record now stands at seven draws and two defeats.

"Allah helped us because of the rain," Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf said last night. "It was disappointing for them, not for us. We were lucky."

Watling's display was perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the test with an eye to the future. After the openers had crawled six runs off the first five overs, the message went out. Watling reacted as if prodded with a sharp stick and was off and running.

Twice he played nifty dinks over the slips and wicketkeeper to the fence, and he slammed legspinner Danish Kaneria for six over mid wicket.

McIntosh, more circumspect, might not have seemed an ideal choice for a target which had more than a whiff of an ODI conclusion to it, but in the end it would not have mattered.

Pakistan began the day at 347 for four, ahead by 99 overall and New Zealand needed early wickets, making Akmal's early escape crucial. He ate up a further 22 overs of precious time.

It was up to the flying Akmal brothers to ensure Pakistan would stay in the game, given their lengthy tail.

But Akmal the Younger, after blazing a few shots en route to his third half century of the series - to go with a maiden hundred at Dunedin - got ambitious on a back foot punched drive to be caught behind.

New Zealand then had to work their way through the lower order.

Aamer gave them a mighty stroke of luck and as the tail went quickly, leaving the admirable Kamran Akmal stranded with his third half century of the series, you wondered where they'd left their batting smarts.

When he caught Kaneria, McCullum had the New Zealand record for dismissals in a test - nine, including one stumping.

New Zealand's latest bowling ace, occasional offspinner Martin Guptill, finished the job off with his third wicket of the innings, and his career - another curious event in a test with its share of odd occurrences.

THE NUMBERS
* New Zealand remain winless in nine tests at Napier. They have had two losses and seven draws.
* The drawn series means their last series' victory over a significant test-playing nation was over the West Indies in 2006. They have beaten Bangladesh twice since then.
* Brendon McCullum's nine dismissals - eight catches, one stumping - is a record for a New Zealand wicketkeeper in a test, eclipsing the eight, all caught, by Warren Lees against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 1983, and Ian Smith, against the same opponents in 1991 at Hamilton.
* New Zealand's unbroken opening stand of 90 by Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling in the second innings yesterday was the country's best for the first wicket since the Trent Bridge test against England in 2004 when Mark Richardson and Stephen Fleming shared stands of 163 and 94 - 43 tests ago.