Pakistan Shaheens, or as they would more informally be called, Pakistan A, registered a morale-boosting win over New Zealand A in the one-off unofficial Test at Whangerei on Sunday. Chasing a target of 298, the home side was bowled out for 226, losing by a margin of 89 runs.
For the Shaheens, three wickets each were picked up by pacers Naseem Shah and Amad Butt while Yasir Shah, the leading leg-spinner in Test cricket today, took a couple. One wicket each went into the account of seamers Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan.
The day started with Pakistan's second-string side, at least nominally, at 318/9 and leading by 286 runs. The pair of Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas added 11 runs more to the total before Matt Henry wrapped up the innings at 329, picking up his sixth wicket of the innings. The Kiwi seamer ended up with figures of 6/53.
In response, no New Zealand A batsman could score even a half century. The highest scorer in the innings was Nathan Smith with 45. Captain Michael Bracewell and Joe Carter scored 30 each in the middle order.
This loss for New Zealand A came after their emphatic 2-0 triump over West Indies A in the previous unofficial Test series. But this loss won't hurt that much because the Pakistan team was stacked with regular members of the main Test squad of the country. The batting line-up consisted of batsmen such as Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Abid Ali, Fawad Alam - all part of the Test set up.
The bowling line-up also included Test bowlers like Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, and Naseem Shah.
The biggest takeaway from this match would be the century by Fawad Alam. An enigmatic player who has been in and out of the Pakistan team's set up and treated unfairly by selectors very often, he laid another strong claim to a spot in the Test team. Since he played in the team's last series, in England, he should get reselected.
For the hosts, the form of Matt Henry is encouraging. New Zealand have a top class bowling line-up with Tim Southee and Trent Boult forming, one of the best bowling duos in the world. They are backed up by the indefatigable Neil Wagner and prodigious young talent Kyle Jamieson.
But Henry, who has been a regular member of the ODI team, has made the selectors take note of him and may be the back-up for either Southee or Boult, if they miss any of the matches.
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