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| December 22, 2003 | Monday | Shawwal 27, 1424 |
Bad light and rain curtail play in 1st Test
HAMILTON (New Zealand), Dec 21: Play was severely restricted by bad light and rain in the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan on Sunday.
Pakistan, replying to the home team’s huge first innings total of 563, took their overnight score from 118 for two to 227 for four as only 38.2 overs were bowled on the third day.
No play was possible after tea but New Zealand coach John Bracewell said he was still hopeful of getting a result.
“I’m not concerned about the overs we’ve lost because we can make up time these days,” Bracewell told reporters. “But the wearing of the wicket is a problem because when we get out there tomorrow (Monday) we’ll still be playing on a third-day wicket.
“When you get a big score, you want the wicket to deteriorate. We would have liked some sun on the pitch to help it deteriorate.”
Earlier, Yousuf Youhana and Yasir Hameed took their third-wicket stand to 79 before Youhana was caught by Lou Vincent in the gully off seamer Daryl Tuffey for 28.
That brought skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq to the crease and he helped Yasir add 75 for the fourth wicket.
But Tuffey claimed his third victim of the innings when he trapped Yasir lbw for 80.
Inzamam was 38 not out at the close and Abdul Razzaq unbeaten on 12.
Bracewell said the uncertain weather had an affect on his bowlers.
“The guys would have been thinking ‘how long are we going to be on the park?’, and that means the bowlers try too hard and forget about the actual discipline needed,” he said.
“It’s a patience game. If you err off a length to these guys they hit you for four.”
Bracewell, though, was full of praise for Tuffey, who returned figures of three for 60 to take his wicket tally in Tests to 58.
“I just love the release of the ball from Daryl,” Bracewell said. “He gained a lot of confidence out of the (recent) Indian tour, he got the feel of being able to perform offshore and that’s given him a huge boost.”
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 563 (S.P. Fleming 192, D.L. Vettori 137 not out; Shabbir Ahmed 5-117).
PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 118-2):
Imran Farhat c Hart b Oram 20
Taufiq Umar c Butler b Tuffey 27
Yasir Hameed lbw b Tuffey 80
Yousuf Youhana c Vincent b Tuffey 28
Inzamam-ul-Haq not out 38
Abdul Razzaq not out 12
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-6, NB-12) 22
TOTAL (for four wkts, 66.2 overs) 227
FALL OF WKTS: 1-47, 2-55, 3-134, 4-209.
TO BAT: Moin Khan, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul.
BOWLING (to-date): Tuffey 18-4-60-3 (3nb, 1w); Butler 9-1-62-0 (2nb, 5w); Oram 13-4-34-1 (1nb); Cairns 9.2-0-32-0 (3nb); Vettori 12-0-29-0 (3nb); Styris 5-2-6-0.—Reuters
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