Neil Wagner ripped through Pakistan’s tail with three wickets in six deliveries to help New Zealand dismiss the visitors for 230 and secure a 138-run victory on the final day of the second test at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Tuesday.
The victory also wrapped up the series 2-0 for Kane Williamson’s side, their first series victory over Pakistan since 1985, after they won the first match by eight wickets in Christchurch.
The fifth day had meandered along for the first two sessions as Pakistan openers Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam looked to give themselves a base from which to challenge the 369-run target.
The pair put on 131 for the first wicket before stand-in captain Azhar (58) got a thick inside edge to a looped delivery from left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and played on just before tea.
The visitors, however, with 211 runs needed from 34 overs in the final session and with nine wickets in hand, changed their approach after the break and decided to attack.
Unperturbed, Santner again gave the ball some air in the first over after tea in an attempt to induce a false stroke and Babar Azam duly obliged, falling the same way as his captain for 16.
Aggressive wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed was promoted up the order to number four, while Aslam continued to hit out, only to fall nine runs short of a maiden test century when he was caught at mid-off by Williamson off Tim Southee.
Sarfraz (19) was then run out attempting a second run on Colin de Grandhomme’s powerful arm, which reduced the visitors to 199 for four and swung the momentum back to the hosts with the second new ball taken three overs later.
Southee and Matt Henry made the most of the opportunity to extract some swing and seam with Asad Shafiq caught at point from a leading edge from Henry before Younus Khan was given out lbw to Southee on review for 11 after he failed to play a shot.
Wagner then ran through the tail with Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz both caught by wicketkeeper BJ Watling for ducks, before Tom Latham produced a brilliant catch at forwarding short leg to dismiss Imran Khan and end the match and series.
Pakistan had not lost a series since they were beaten 2-0 in Sri Lanka in August 2014, winning five and drawing two, which included one drawn series in England earlier this year that gave them the top test ranking before India moved past them.
[…] Source: Pakistan Today […]
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