This is just about acceptable. Yes, New Zealand are on top, and yes, Pakistan’s answer to Kane williamson is currently nursing a thumb injury, while Pakistan’s answer to Ross Taylor disappeared down the same cracks as Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq’s potential over the years. Yes, that means the template New Zealand followed against West Indies is still very much on, particularly given the vulnerability of Pakistan’s batting order and the confidence surging through New Zealand’s quick bowlers. But for all of that, and the frustrations Pakistan will be nursing now that a grinding day is over, few, even in the bitter, scapegoat-y world of Pakistan cricket analysis, could throw much blame Pakistan’s way.
Mohammad Rizwan won the toss – the sixth successive time a coin has bested a New Zealand skipper this summer – and bowled on a surface greener than most outfields in Pakistan are this or any other time of the year. Unlike West Indies, Pakistan’s new ball bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Abbas took advantage of the grass on the wicket and the new ball, striking to remove New Zealand’s struggling openers early. They did so not because they went in search of magic deliveries, but because they stuck to that niggly line just outside off stump that has brought them success in most places they play.
Clip that opening spell, set up a tutorial and use them to teach every visiting side how to bowl on the first morning in New Zealand. In a masterclass of execution, Afridi and Abbas appeared to be exploiting the conditions so expertly they might as well have been raised under the shadow of Mount Maunganui itself, rather than first time visitors to this place. Tom Latham floundered and Tom Blundell fiddled and both inevitably fell to Afridi, though Abbas could claim assists for both dismissals thanks to a six-over spell of metronomic efficiency in which no quarter was given. He might not have known it was one day out from Christmas for the lack of generosity on offer. Or he might have been auditioning for Scrooge’s part.
Thirty of the 36 balls Abbas bowled in that opening burst were length balls outside off stump, with only three full deliveries, meaning he hadn’t been fooled by the grass on the surface and gone searching for phantom swing. Twenty-six of Afridi’s deliveries in his first six overs were length balls on or around off stump, with both wickets coming off those deliveries.
This is just about acceptable. Yes, New Zealand are on top, and yes, Pakistan’s answer tois currently nursing a thumb injury, while Pakistan’s answer todisappeared down the same cracks as Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq’s potential over the years. Yes, that means the template New Zealand followed against West Indies is still very much on, particularly given the vulnerability of Pakistan’s batting order and the confidence surging through New Zealand’s quick bowlers. But for all of that, and the frustrations Pakistan will be nursing now that a grinding day is over, few, even in the bitter, scapegoat-y world of Pakistan cricket analysis, could throw much blame Pakistan’s way.
Mohammad Rizwan won the toss – the sixth successive time a coin has bested a New Zealand skipper this summer – and bowled on a surface greener than most outfields in Pakistan are this or any other time of the year. Unlike West Indies, Pakistan’s new ball bowlers\ took advantage of the grass on the wicket and the new ball, striking to remove New Zealand’s struggling openers early. They did so not because they went in search of magic deliveries, but because they stuck to that niggly line just outside off stump that has brought them success in most places they play.
Clip that opening spell, set up a tutorial and use them to teach every visiting side how to bowl on the first morning in New Zealand. In a masterclass of execution, Afridi and Abbas appeared to be exploiting the conditions so expertly they might as well have been raised under the shadow of Mount Maunganui itself, rather than first time visitors to this place. Tom Latham floundered and Tom Blundell fiddled and both inevitably fell to Afridi, though Abbas could claim assists for both dismissals thanks to a six-over spell of metronomic efficiency in which no quarter was given. He might not have known it was one day out from Christmas for the lack of generosity on offer. Or he might have been auditioning for Scrooge’s part.
Thirty of the 36 balls Abbas bowled in that opening burst were length balls outside off stump, with only three full deliveries, meaning he hadn’t been fooled by the grass on the surface and gone searching for phantom swing. Twenty-six of Afridi’s deliveries in his first six overs were length balls on or around off stump, with both wickets coming off those deliveries.
