Date-stamped : 22 Nov96 - 14:14 Day 1 Report- Electronic Telegraph Doull puts NZ back in contention By Qamar Ahmed in Lahore TEST cricket was reduced to mediocrity at the Gaddafi Stadium where New Zealand, after being shot out for 155 by tea, reduced Pakistan to 52 for five when play was called off 10 overs early on the first day of the first Test because of bad light. Medium-pacer Simon Doull did most of the damage for New Zealand, gaining extravagant movement off the seam to take four for 21 in seven overs. On a wicket of even bounce, the batsmen of both sides failed miserably as the ball moved in the air and off the pitch, surprisingly helping the faster bowlers as much as the spinners. Waqar Younis picked up four for 48 and Mushtaq Ahmed claimed four for 59 with his leg-breaks after New Zealand chose to bat first. The over-confident Pakistan batting was soon in trouble when Saeed Anwar, leading his country for the first time in a Test in the absence of Wasim Akram with a shoulder injury, was bowled by Doull in the fifth over. Ijaz Ahmed was unlucky to be leg before to Chris Cairns when he appeared to get an inside edge. Inzamam-ul-Haq, making a comeback after a knee operation, was caught in the slips off Doull without scoring. Test debutants Zahoor Elahi and Mohammad Wasim also fell to Doull, Wasim making nought. But for a 51-run stand for the third wicket between Adam Parore and Stephen Fleming, New Zealand might have struggled to pass three figures. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Day 2 report- Electronic Telegraph Pakistan attack take upper hand By Qamar Ahmed in Lahore PAKISTAN, after taking a slender first-innings lead of 36 over New Zealand, finished the second day's play in the first Test at the Gaddafi Stadium by restricting the tourists to 88 for three in their second innings. If Pakistan's bowlers perform with as much control when play resumes today as they did on the second afternoon, New Zealand's remaining batsmen face an uphill task to build on their lead of only 52 runs. They have already lost openers Justin Vaughan and Bryan Young, who had put on 46 for the first wicket, to Mushtaq Ahmed, while Adam Parore was leg before to Saqlain Mushtaq. Earlier, Moin Khan rallied Pakistan with a blistering 59 to share 48 runs with Salim Malik for the sixth wicket and 56 runs with Saqlain for the seventh wicket before being seventh out at 141. Vaughan finished with four for 27 and Simon Doull five for 46 - both being their best Test figures. Doull had added to his four wickets on the first day by having Malik caught in the second slip by Young for 21. At 85 for six when the ball had to be changed as it went out of shape, Vaughan struck with leg before wicket decisions in his favour against Moin Khan and Waqar Younis. From 163 for eight at lunch, Pakistan's tail, consisting of Saqlain, who made 23, and Mushtaq Ahmed who scored 25, hitting some lofty blows, took their score to 191 before the innings ended. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Day 2 and 3 reports, Dawn Pakistan facing certain defeat in first Test Ilyas Beg LAHORE, Nov. 23: The undisciplined batting again by the Pakistan team, which resulted in dismissal of five top-order players for only 46 runs at close of play on the third day of the first Test at the Qadhafi Stadium on Saturday, brightened chances of New Zealand's second-ever victory in this country. The Pakistani batsmen spoiled the heroic effort by the right-arm leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmad, who had the Kiwis in trouble by having the second-ever haul of ten wickets for 143 runs (first being 10 for 171 against New Zealand at Christchurch in January this year). When Mushtaq Ahmad had captain Lee Germon leg before wicket to claim his tenth wicket, the diminutive spinner claimed his 99th Test victim. Stephen Fleming and Chris Cairns batted superbly to add 141 priceless runs for the sixth wicket partnership and pulled the New Zealand side out of woods, which was at one stage struggling at 101 for five after paceman Waqar Younis sent Mark Greatbach's (1) stumps cartwheeling. This stand helped New Zealand hit 311 runs in the second innings which left Pakistan side the challenge of scoring 276 runs for victory. This was an impossible task for the strong Pakistani batting line-up. But this very team had risen to the occasion in 1994-95 at Karachi to defeat Australia by scoring its biggest-ever total (319 for 9) in the fourth innings. Inzimam-ul-Haq (58) and Mushtaq Ahmad (20) had put on 59 runs for the unbroken tenth wicket partnership to take Pakistan to a historic win against the strong Australian team, which consisted of many world-class players. On Saturday at the Qdahafi Stadium, Lahore, the pathetic batting by the top Pakistani batsmen like acting captain Saeed Anwar (0), Ejaz Ahmad (8) and Inzimam-ul-Haq (14) and debutante Zahoor Elahi (6) and night-watchman Saqlain Mushtaq (0) has greatly diminished hopes of any success against the hard-fighting Kiwis, who have reached in a position of strength from a perilous situation. Credit must be given to the lanky, bearded paceman Simon Doull, who not only put on 26 valuable runs despite pulling a leg-muscle but also went on to deal two early blows to the Pakistan team. Although one full session and two days were at the disposal of the Pakistani batsmen yet they started off in a fashion as if they were on a mission to knock off the required 276 runs before the draw of stumps. Simon Doull trapped Saeed Anwar leg before wicket on the second ball of the second innings. Doull also clean bowled Ejaz Ahmad to make Pakistan eight for two. Ejaz Ahmad shuffled across to an incoming delivery from Doull and lost his leg stump. The two batsmen, who have been scoring heavily for the last many months and playing important role in Pakistan team's triumphs, failed miserably in both the innings of this Test. Inzimam-ul-Haq, back in the team after a knee operation in Canada, struggled for 30 minutes before edging a ball from Cairns to Young in the slips. Bryan Young dived to hold an improbable catch inches above the ground. The third wicket fell at the total of 25. To make things worse, the night-watchman Saqlain Mushtaq, sent wrongly much earlier before the scheduled close of play, also could not last long. After facing only four deliveries, he edged the fifth from medium-pacer Justin Vaughan into the safe hands of Stephen Fleming in the first slip. Pakistan team was four for 26. The debutante Zahoor Elahi defended for 85 minutes and tried his best to pull the Pakistan team out of deep trouble but failed. After scoring six laborious runs, he was caught by Young off the spinner Dipak Patel's fourth delivery of his first over at the total of 42. Young held a low catch and umpire Shakoor Rana had to consult the square-leg umpire Russell Tiffin before giving Zahoor Elahi out. The experienced Salim Malik (15) and the young debutante Muhammad Waseem (0), who again came in to bat at a very crucial time with light failing rapidly, will resume the struggle to save Pakistan from defeat. Salim Malik hit two excellent boundaries to release the pressure. Pakistan's chances of scoring the remaining 230 runs for victory hinged mostly on this pair of recognised batsmen and the gutsy wicketkeeper/batsman Moin Khan, who had played important part in earning 36 runs lead for Pakistan in the first innings by hitting a precious knock of 59. The pitch has slowed down considerably and the remaining Pakistani batsmen can put up a good show only if they are prepared to graft runs rather than batting recklessly like their predecessors. It is a highly improbable task but not totally impossible! Resuming at the overnight total of 88 for three, the New Zealand side lost two quick wickets with the addition of only 13 runs. Without adding to his overnight score of three, Nathan Astle fell leg before wicket to Mushtaq Ahmad. He was hit low on the pad by a quick third ball of the day from the leg-spinner and declared out. At the total of 101, Waqar Younis bowled Greatbach. From that stage started the rearguard action by Fleming and Cairns, who carried the New Zealand total to 242. After having a good look at the Pakistani bowling, depleted due to trouble to paceman Waqar Younis, in whose place young Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) opener Adil Nisar had to field for better part of the New Zealand second innings. Strangely enough, the acting Pakistani skipper Saeed Anwar persisted with his off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and young paceman Shahid Nazir who were thrashed by Cairns and Fleming at will! Cairns hit big sixes off Saqlain straight over the bowler's head which flew over the sight-screens into the stands. He brought Mushtaq Ahmad very late to bowl. He not only succeeded in breaking the stubborn partnership but also did the most damage. Mushtaq's delivery kept low and hit over the front foot of Cairns to claim him leg before wicket. Cairns hit three sixes (all off Saqlain) and twelve boundaries in his top-score of 93. At the same total of 242, Chris Harris (0) was well caught by Salim malik in the slip off Mushtaq Ahmad. The ball was deflected from wicketkeeper Moin Khan's glove and Salim Malik held a brilliant, diving catch. Captain Lee Germon fell leg before wicket to Mushtaq Ahmad at the total of 262 and New Zealand lost its eighth wicket. Germon was hit on his ankle and the leg-spinner got his 99th scalp in Test cricket. Thus New Zealand team lost its eighth wicket. Only one run had been added when Shahid Nazir trapped Dipak Patel (0) leg before wicket with a sharp inswinger. He was the 15th lbw victim during this Test. That broke record of highest number of lbw dismissals (14) in Pakistan. That record had been created at Faisalabad in the Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in April, 1993. Stephen Fleming and Simon Doull (26 in 37 minutes with one six and four fours) added 48 valuable runs for the last wicket partnership before Saqlain tempted the latter to jump out his crease to be stumped by Moin. Stephen Fleming, playing the role of a sheet anchor stayed at the crease for 281 minutes and hit one six and 13 boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 92. Source:: Dawn (http://xiber.com/dawn/) Day 3 report- Electronic Telegraph. New Zealand line up rare success in Pakistan By John Burrows in Lahore NEW ZEALAND are poised for only their second Test win in Pakistan after a remarkable performance on the third day of the first Test in Lahore. The Kiwis, who host a three-Test series against England later this winter, last won here when Graham Dowling's side triumphed in Lahore by five wickets in 1969, but they look set to end their long wait today. Chasing a victory target of 276 with more than two days to spare, Pakistan had slumped to 46 for five when play was halted seven overs early due to poor light. Pace bowler Simon Doull, chief destroyer of Pakistan's first innings, was again their tormentor, claiming the wickets of Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed in the space of five balls. Anwar was trapped leg before, the 15th batsman to be dismissed this way in the match so far and two short of the world record for lbw dismissals set in Pakistan's Test with West Indies in Trinidad in the 1993-94 series. Ijaz, like his captain, also fell cheaply for the second time when he exposed his leg stump on just eight. Inzamam-ul-Haq was third out at 25, caught smartly by Bryan Young at second slip off Chris Cairns for 14, and a run later Pakistan lost their fourth wicket when nightwatchman Saqlain Mushtaq was removed by Justin Vaughan. New Zealand capped a magnificent day by dismissing opener Zahoor Elahi, who was taken low by Young off former Worcestershire off-spinner Dipak Patel for eight. The Kiwis owed their second innings total of 311 to knocks of 92 not out by Stephen Fleming and 93 by Nottinghamshire all-rounder Cairns - which included 12 fours and three sixes - after resuming at 88 for three. The two Canterbury batsmen shared a sixth-wicket stand of 141 in 34.3 overs. Somerset leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed - who caused a minor middle-order collapse in which Chris Harris, Lee Germon and Patel fell quickly - finished with six for 84 for a match haul of 10 for 143, the second time he had taken 10 wickets in a Test. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Day 4 Report Electronic Telegraph Waseem fails to prevent defeat By Qamar Ahmed in Lahore NEW ZEALAND earned only their second victory in Pakistan, by 44 runs and with a day to spare, but not before Mohammad Waseem, the Pakistan Under-19 captain, defied them for 217 minutes to remain unbeaten on 109. Needing 276 to win, Pakistan had resumed on 46 for five. Despite losing his overnight partner Salim Malik at 60 - caught at the wicket off Simon Doull by New Zealand captain Lee Germon for 21 - Waseem displayed unflappable temperament, even after being hit on the helmet by a Chris Cairns bouncer when he was seven. He drove and cut with relish on both sides of the wicket to take Pakistan from 94 for four at lunch to 211 for eight at tea. With Moin Khan, who scored 38, he shared 75 runs for the seventh wicket before the wicketkeeper was caught behind off Nathan Astle. With Mushtaq Ahmed, Waseem added another 76 runs for the eighth wicket. His fifty was scored off 97 balls and his hundred came in 198 minutes, off 151 deliveries. He hit 16 fours and is only the fourth Pakistani to make a century on his Test debut, the others being Billy Ibadullah, Javed Miandad and Salim Malik. Doull, named man of the match, took three Pakistan wickets at a cost of 39 runs to add to his five for 46 in the first innings. The second and final Test of the series begins in Rawalpindi on Thursday. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Day 4 Report- Christchurch Press 26 November 1996 'Tears Shed' Over NZ Win NZ V PAKISTAN: FIRST TEST REVIEW LAHORE -- All-rounder Chris Cairns wasn't embarrassed to admit he shed a tear or two immediately following New Zealand's great 44-run victory over Pakistan in the first cricket test at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore yesterday. For Cairns, the emotion of the moment was perfectly understandable as he savoured his first test success in his 18th appearance for New Zealand in seven injury-interrupted years. "I'd never experienced anything like this emotion and it's just great to be part of it," Cairns said in the wake of New Zealand's second ever test win on Pakistani soil. "It was a really strange feeling. I'd never experienced anything as intense as this game," he said of a match the tourists wrapped up during the last session on the fourth day when they closed down Pakistan's second innings for 231. Cairns, the centre of a controversial withdrawal from last summer's tour of the West Indies when he cited injury for his early return to England, was overcome when he walked up to "man-of-the-match" Simon Doull in the dressing room shortly after the Kiwis left the ground. "I went up to Simon to congratulate him on an outstanding performance. I was quite close to tears. Actually, I might have shed the odd tear or two. It was just so great to beat Pakistan over here and be involved with a great bunch of guys." Cairns slammed a match-turning 93 from 91 balls on Saturday when he and Stephen Fleming, with a magnificent unbeaten 92, combined for a decisive 141-run partnership as the Kiwis scored 311 in their second innings to leave Pakistan 276 to win. However, he was not so effective at the bowling crease, his match analysis of two for 141 hardly doing himself justice. Cairns took one for 62 from 16 overs in the home side's second innings, and thinks he let himself down. "I got pretty carried away with my bowling because I was just trying so hard. I ended up doing worse than if I'd just relaxed and bowled line and length. "But I'd never been in that position before and that is something I can take away from this game to store for matches ahead," Cairns said. Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz) Day 4 report- Dawn Pakistan outplayed by N. Zealand in first Test Ilyas Beg LAHORE, Nov. 24: Despite an imposing, unbeaten century (109) by young Muhammad Waseem and a good supporting knock by Moin Khan (38), Pakistan lost the five-day first Test to New Zealand by 44 runs, 25 minutes after the tea interval on the fourth day at the Qadhafi Stadium on Sunday. This is the second-ever defeat of the Pakistan team in a Test against the Kiwis in this country. Incidentally, on the first occasion in 1969 , Intikhab Alam's Pakistan team had lost to Graham Dowling's New Zealand side at this very venue. The tall and bearded paceman Simon Doull had destroyed the Pakistani batting by claiming five wickets for 46 runs in the first innings. He took three wickets for 39 runs in the second innings, despite having cramps in his thigh, to have a match haul of eight for 85. Simon Doull was declared the "Man-of-the-Match". It was an abject surrender by the Pakistan team, which boasts of many world-class batsmen and bowlers. They batted atrociously in both the innings, with Muhammad Waseem and Moin Khan being the only exceptions. Had Moin not hit a good knock of 59 in the first innings and Muhammad Waseem not played exceedingly well in the second innings, the Pakistan team would have been routed by the fast-emerging New Zealand team by a much bigger margin. The Kiwis are a blend of youth and experience and is moulding into a very fine combination under Lee Germon. Muhammad Waseem became the fourth Pakistani to score a century on Test debut. The other players were Khalid Ibadullah, Javed Miandad and Salim Malik. Incidentally, Javed Miandad had also scored a century on his debut at this very ground against New Zealand in 1976. The young Muhammad Waseem had successfully captained the Pakistan under-19 team during tour of the West Indies this year. He had a good measure of the New Zealand bowling and was cautious in the initial stages of the game in the morning. He completed his first fifty by hitting most of his strokes on the on side. He showed the cool temperament of a seasoned player despite being so young and inexperienced. Once he was well set, he exhibited rich repertoire of strokes. His drives from the cover to the long-on region were a treat to watch. He flicked with perfection and the ball raced to the boundary on his strokes, giving little chance to the fielders to stop it from crossing the boundary-line. Muhammad Waseem hit 17 elegant boundaries during his 217-minute stay at the crease, facing 165 balls. Muhammad Waseem was involved in two productive partnerships of the day. He added 75 runs for the seventh wicket partnership with Moin Khan. Thereafter, Muhammad Waseem and Mushtaq Ahmad added 76 runs for the eighth wicket partnership. The fourth day's play resumed with 55-minute delay due to dew on the ground, particularly on the run-up at the pavilion end. Incidentally, the vehicle used for drying out the outfield went out of order, making the mopping up operation difficult. On captain Lee Germon's assurance to ask his paceman to bowl from a shortened run-up, the two umpires Shakoor Rana and Russell Tiffin decided to resume the game at 10-55 am. Pakistan's chances of gaining victory from a very delicate situation hinged mostly on the experienced batsman Salim Malik, who is capable of playing the role of a sheet-anchor. Salim Malik (15) and Muhammad Waseem (0) resumed the Pakistan second innings at 46 for five on Sunday morning. Salim Malik failed once again. On the second ball of the 23rd over from Simon Doull, the batsman went for a drive, missed the line and edged the ball into the hands of wicketkeeper Lee Germon. The sixth Pakistani wicket fell at the total of 60. Muhammad Waseem and Moin Khan took the Pakistani total to 135 before being separated. Moin Khan hit eight boundaries in his knock of 38. He stayed at the wicket for 92 minutes and played 75 balls. At one stage, when both Moin Khan and Muhammad Waseem were batting confidently, it looked that Pakistan would coast to an exciting victory. Moin Khan was unfortunately out at the total of 135. Moin Khan tried to drive an outswinger from the utility medium-pacer Nathan Astle and edged the ball into the hands of Lee Germon. Mushtaq Ahmad also gave admirable support to Muhammad Waseem and both took the total to 211. Mushtaq Ahmad scored 15 runs in 75 minutes with the help of two boundaries. He was out to a catch by Stephen Fleming in the close position off Dipak Patel. The eighth Pakistani wicket fell at the total of 211. Now defeat looked staring into the eyes of the Pakistan team. On one end, Muhammad Waseem continued his heroic struggle and hit exquisitely-timed drives. Muhammad Waseem completed his century with an on-drive on the delivery from Justin Vaughan. The young batsman waved his bat to the small crowd of a few hundred, who gave him standing ovation for completing the well-deserved century. Waqar Younis embraced and patted him for his magnificent effort under trying circumstances. Waqar Younis played nine deliveries before being bowled. He played on an off-break from Dipak Patel after scoring only one run. The ninth wicket fell at the total of 219. The lastman Shahid Nazir (1) also played nine balls. He offered an easy catch to Chris Harris off Dipak Patel to offer the off-spinner his fourth scalp. The Pakistan second innings folded at 231. Poor Muhammad Waseem stood helpless on the other end as he ran short of partners. Source:: Dawn (http://xiber.com/dawn/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)