KARACHI: Opener Devon Conway led New Zealand’s early domination of Pakistan on day one of the second Test in Karachi with a knock of 122, before the hosts struck back in the final session to limit their opponents to 309-6 at stumps on Monday.
Electing to bat first, the visitors started strongly as Conway stitched together partnerships of 134 and 100 with Tom Latham and Kane Williamson respectively in front of a modest crowd at the National Stadium.
Conway, who scored a total of 110 runs in the first Test, hit 16 boundaries and one six in his 191-ball knock to notch his fourth century in Test cricket.
Pakistan were finally able to stem New Zealand’s flow in the final session as they took five wickets, with Agha Salman claiming the scalps of Conway, Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell. Tom Blundell was on 30 unbeaten with Ish Sodhi at the close.
Conway and his opening partner Tom Latham (71) added a second successive century stand before Naseem Shah brought the lone success when he had Latham trapped leg before wicket of a full delivery after lunch as New Zealand reached a solid 226-1 at tea.
Conway was unbeaten on 120 off 179 balls and former captain Kane Williamson, who scored an unbeaten 200 in the drawn first Test, reached 29 at the break.
Conway and Latham shared 134 runs on a wicket which had some grass and tempted Pakistan to include an extra fast bowler and go with only one specialist spinner — Abrar Ahmed.
Both lefthanded opening batters dominated the pace and spin in the first session to produce 119 runs and even showed aggression against Abrar’s mystery spin after Tim Southee won the toss and elected to bat.
Left-arm fast bowler Mir Hamza twice came close to gaining a breakthrough in his return spell before lunch, but first Latham successfully overturned onfield umpire Alex Wharf’s lbw ruling and then Pakistan went for an unsuccessful leg before wicket TV referral against Conway before he also completed a half-century.
Hasan Ali, in his return to Test cricket, twice found the edges of Conway’s bat in successive overs after lunch only to see the ball fall short of Abdullah Shafique in the slips and then Saud Shakeel couldn’t hold onto a sharp chance in the gully while diving full length to his right.
Conway completed his century off 156 balls with 13 fours and a six with a flick of Hamza to midwicket and ran three while Williamson also kept the bowlers at bay with his determined batting.
Earlier, Latham and Conway completed their half centuries before lunch and provided New Zealand a solid start.
Both batters motored New Zealand to 63 inside the first hour and batted aggressively against fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Hasan Ali, who made comebacks to Test cricket.
Conway used his feet well once the lone specialist spinner Abrar Ahmed was introduced as early as in the ninth over. Conway raised New Zealand’s half-century with a six against the mystery spinner over wide mid-on as Pakistan struggled to get through the defenses.
New Zealand, on its first Test tour to Pakistan since 2002, had made a strong bid to chase down 138 in the last hour of the first Test of the two-match series last Friday after Pakistan captain Babar Azam made a daring declaration. Poor visibility halted the Black Caps at 61-1 in the eighth over to draw the game.
Hasan was recalled having last played for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in July and missing the 3-0 whitewash at the hands of England last month.
Naseem also returned after fully recovering from the shoulder injury that sidelined him from the last two Tests against England and the first Test against the Black Caps.
New Zealand made one change, playing fast bowler Matt Henry in place of Neil Wagner.
Friday’s draw broke both team’s four-match losing streaks, which included 3-0 losses for each against England.
The Pakistan Cricket Board was forced to organize both Test matches in Karachi due to weather concerns in Multan, where winter smog and fog have delayed flights and may have disrupted hours of play.
Pakistan is languishing at No. 7 on the ICC world Test championship table while New Zealand has endured even more disappointment and is eighth despite beating India in the inaugural WTC final at Lord’s last year.
