Lunch New Zealand 119 for 0 (Latham 67*, Conway 51*) vs Pakistan
Naseem had began the day bowling brief and large to Latham, who hit the primary 4 of the innings when he truly went full and straight within the fourth over. That started a string of boundaries to observe: Conway hit two off Mir Hamza subsequent over by driving and slashing, earlier than Latham additionally reduce and drove Naseem, capitalising every time the bowler went both too brief or too full whilst he had chosen to go across the wicket already.
Quick runs pressured Babar Azam to shuffle the bowlers, as he had additionally launched Hasan Ali and Abrar by the ninth over. But all that made little distinction, as Latham continued to search out the boundary off Hasan, who gave him the room to drive in addition to the best size to maintain flicking to the leg facet.
Next over, Conway twice skipped down the pitch to Abrar, lofting him for 4 to deep midwicket and launching one for six over lengthy-on, as Pakistan’s solely specialist spinner within the match felt the stress instantly. The first 11 overs had fetched 54, earlier than a quiet interval adopted, with Hasan tightening his strains, and Abrar slowing it down within the air.
But that calmness from the 2 batters lasted for under 5 overs, as each continued to focus on Abrar, who appeared to be bowling too full by then. Babar changed Abrar with Agha Salman, however Latham pulled him by way of midwicket within the nineteenth over, earlier than reversing a leg-earlier than choice off Hamza’s subsequent over. Umpire Alex Wharf gave it out when a very good-size ball barely nipped again in from outdoors off to strike him on his pads, just for replays to point out a faint inside edge after Latham had reviewed immediately.
Two overs later, a annoyed Pakistan then reviewed a not-out verdict by Wharf when Conway was overwhelmed by one which angled in off a very good size, just for the ball projected to be going approach over the stumps.
That summed up the session for the hosts, who had introduced in Naseem and Hasan on a pitch with good bounce and carry. But New Zealand received the toss, and Latham and Conway justified the choice of batting first.