Even with New Zealand steadily reducing their deficit, Pakistan had a better day as Ball took two wickets in the opening session of the third day.
Two well-positioned openers made runs difficult early in the session after hitting record highs on day two as spinners found support away from a rough patch of surface . The Pakistani pacemaker got off to a decent start without missing a hitter.
Naumann Ali set the tone to attack in the first over of the day. His Devon Conway, 8-for-100, was hit in front of his pad by a sharp gymnast outside the rough. Sarfaraz Ahmed, who served as assistant skipper while Babar Azam was sidelined with the flu, sent the decision to the third umpire and Pakistan won his favor as the 183-man federation was finally shattered. rice field.
Tom Latham and Kane Williamson made 48 for the second wicket but didn’t always look in control. Latham’s false sweep and reverse his sweep fell safely, reaching his ton in his 13th Test, the largest from the New Zealand opener.
That joy was short-lived, as he was quickly killed by Abra mastering the backswing against his Ahmed. This was followed by a nervous moment, even for Williamson. He was saved first by a check, gaining an inside advantage to help nullify LBW’s decision against Abrar on the 13th. Two runs later he ran down the track but lucked out as he missed one run from Naumann and Sarfraz also missed the stamping as he lost sight of his legs.
Pakistan continued to raise questions until the end of the session when Henry Nicholls also survived his LBW check after missing a sharp turn from Naumann.
Brief scores: New Zealand 245/2 (Devon Conway 92, Tom Latham 113) trail Pakistan 438 (Babar Azam 161, Agha Salman 103; Tim Southee 3-69) by 193 runs