Pakistan endured another miserable day on their tour of New Zealand with Kane Williamson completing another double century, his second of the season, and Daryl Mitchell reaching three figures for the first time in his career, on day 3 of the second Test going on at Christchurch.
The day started with both Williamson, not out on 129 overnight, and Henry Nicholls, unbeaten on 89, resuming the grounding down of opposition. It didn’t take much time for New Zealand to reach 300 from their overnight score of 286, and for Nicholls to complete his second hundred of the season.
However, keeping with the trend of missed chances yesterday, Nicholls was dropped twice again today, first, at the score of 92, then, after he had reached his 100. Williamson too, was dropped once in the morning.
The two batsmen continued to pile on the agony for the visitors as the Pakistani bowlers looked deflated. The partnership swelled to epic proportions, becoming the highest for any wicket in Pakistan vs New Zealand matches. The 369-run stand is also the third-biggest for any wicket by a New Zealand batting pair.
Nicholls managed to reach his 150 while an unrelenting Kiwi captain completed his second double hundred of the season. But before Williamson’s milestone, Pakistan finally got a breakthrough when Nicholls got a top edge to a rare bouncer from Mohammad Abbas. He scored 157.
BJ Watling missed out on the fun when he was dismissed cheaply by Shaheen Shah Afridi, for just seven. But Daryl Mitchell, in the team due to Neil Wagner’s injury, made full use of this opportunity. He and Williamson went on the offensive and started to smash the Pakistan bowlers all round the ground.
Williamson’s innings finally ended when he attempted an upper-cut which landed in the hands of the third man fielder. Pakistan's players congratulated Williamson on his big knock, one that also saw him become the third Kiwi batsmen, after Stephen Fleming and Ross Taylor, to score 7000 Test runs.
This shot and the way the two batsmen were batting was a clear sign that the Kiwis wanted to declare soon. It was now a race against the time for Mitchell to get to his maiden Test hundred.
Williamson was poised for declaration after tea but gave enough time to the all-rounder to complete his ton. The New Zealand innings ended at 659/6, a lead of 362 runs.
When Pakistan came out to bat, the two openers – Shan Masood and Abid Ali – showed great restraint, not scoring a run for the first few overs. Then, the in-form bowler Kyle Jamieson came into the attack and made an impact immediately, getting Masood to edge a delivery to slip on the second ball of his first over. He was out for a 25-ball duck.
Abid Ali also seemed to have succumbed to Jamieson when the umpire gave him out lbw. But he survived thanks to a nick that even he wasn’t aware of. Night-watchman Abbas did his job of stopping further damage and was unbeaten on 1 while Abid is batting on 7. Eventually, Pakistan ended day 3 on 8/1, trailing by 354. An innings defeat looms large on the horizon for Pakistan. Unless, someone plays a really special knock.
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