Pakistan lose to Kiwis by narrow margin

[.BZU.]

DUNEDIN: Despite a brilliant effort by debutant Umer Akmal Pakistan surrendered to New Zealand in the last session of the first Test match here on Saturday.

Pakistan chasing 251 to win were all out for 218 and lost the match by a narrow margin of 32 runs to give New Zealand a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.

Umer Akmal, who scored a hundred on Test debut in the first innings, again played a heroic innings of 75 in an effort to lead his team to victory but fast bowler Shane Bond shattered his dream of becoming only the third batsman to score a century in each innings on his first Test appearance.

Pakistan lost three early wickets for only 24 runs when Umer came at the crease. He stood between New Zealand and victory for almost two sessions and walked back with a broken heart as his team was 56 runs away from winning the match.

He was well supported by his captain Mohammad Yousuf (41), allrounder Shoaib Malik (32) and his elder brother wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal (27).

He added 71 with Yousuf for the fourth wicket, 66 with Malik for the fifth and 34 with Kamran for the sixth wicket.

As soon Umer departed Pakistan began to collapse and gave away the remaining four wickets for only 23 runs.

Bond and O’Brien captured three wickets each while Martin and Vettori claimed two wickets each.

Earlier, Pakistan seamers skittled out the Black Caps for 153 but were set a target of 251 runs by the virtue of the first innings lead of 97 runs.

Mohammad Asif bagged four wickets, Umer Gul three and Mohammad Aamer two for 43, 41 and 29 runs, respectively.