Steve Hansen will make a decision on his coaching future before end of year, Black Caps stare down the barrel of defeat and the Breakers still finding their feet
Surprise, surprise - another disastrous batting collapse looks set to deny New Zealand a rare test victory on Asian soil.
A superb 112-run partnership between Henry Nicholls and BJ Watling had put the Black Caps into a position to push for victory in the first test against Pakistan, but from 220-4, New Zealand tumbled to 249 all out as Yasir Shah (5-110) and Hasan Ali (5-45) wreaked havoc.
What could have been a truly challenging chase instead became a lead of just 176 runs, and by stumps, Pakistan had raced to 37-0, reducing that equation to a mere 139 to win when they return on day four.
An early wicket or two before stumps could have given the Black Caps a realistic hope – but so would have a lead of over 250 - which looked a real possibility when Watling and Nicholls combined for their stellar stand.
Joining forces at a perilous 108-4, Watling and Nicholls brought the Black Caps back into the test, grinding away in collaboration for 50 overs. Nicholls started shakily before finding his form in his valuable 55 from 171 balls, while Watling used a review to survive an incorrect lbw verdict from umpire Bruce Oxenford, but then looked comfortable in his 59 off 145 deliveries.
It was slow going, but for the first time this test, a session went by without a wicket falling – the pair adding 66 runs in 30 overs, and then pushing on after tea. However – as has been the case so often this test, just as New Zealand looked like they could establish a dominant position, Pakistan struck.
When Nicholls was caught behind off a bottom edge trying to sweep Shah, it opened up New Zealand's lengthy tail order. It may seem harsh to include Colin de Grandhomme as part of that tail, but the out-of-touch all-rounder had a horrendous innings, looking all at sea against Shah, and then completely wasting a review after he was trapped plumb lbw.
When Watling also fell to Shah – who took four wickets in 15 balls - it left the tail exposed, and they proved unable to contain the spin of Shah and speed of Ali.
In total, six wickets fell for just 29 runs, and now the Black Caps will need something special from their bowlers to claim their first test win away against an Asian side since 2014.
Losing wickets in clumps has been a problem all test for the visitors, and it was perfectly encapsulated in their second innings, where they had two partnerships account for 79.5 per cent of their runs.
The first came from Kane Williamson and Jeet Raval, who added 86 for the second wicket, immediately wiping away their 74-run first-innings deficit.
Jeet Raval made a patient 46 for the Black Caps last night. Photo / Photosport
However, just as they had a platform to build upon, Pakistan found a timely wicket. Shah pulled out a peach of a delivery, getting a ball to turn and drift past Williamson's outside edge, and brush off-stump, removing the bail. The touch was so marginal, the umpires had to check upstairs to see whether it was the ball rather than the wind or wicketkeeper that had dislodged the bail, but it was a legitimate dismissal, and Williamson had to go for 37.
Ross Taylor replaced him, but the only man with more experience than Williamson also failed to convert a quick start. Ali got the ball to reverse swing, and a delivery cannoned into Taylor's pad, trapping him lbw for 19.
Raval looked confident as he reached 46, but after displaying great patience to the bowling of Mohammad Abbas, he instead nibbled at a delivery from Ali, offering an easy catch for Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.
It left Nicholls and Watling to have to re-build the innings, and they were up to the task. Unfortunately for the Black Caps, the tail order wasn't, and while Pakistan's fast start to their chase was cut short by bad light, their prospects of victory suddenly look very sunny indeed.
