LAHORE - Just when the New Zealanders thought things could not get any worse, Pakistan whirlwind Shoaib Akhtar produced a bowling spell which reduced the tourists to quivering wrecks in the opening test in Lahore.
Having already conceded a record total of 643 thanks to Inzamam-ul-Haq's masterful 329, New Zealand crumbled to 58 for six at stumps on day two after just 20 overs of their reply.
It was yet another remarkable day of test cricket, but for all the wrong reasons for the tourists.
New Zealand openers Mark Richardson and Matthew Horne wandered to the middle of Gaddafi Stadium soon after tea with the small matter of 444 to avoid the follow-on.
Any thoughts of batting being as easy as the home side made it look were dashed as Akhtar charged in and destroyed the woodwork of New Zealand's first four batsmen.
In the space of 24 deliveries, he sent the stumps of Horne, Richardson, Stephen Fleming and Chris Harris cartwheeling as they just couldn't play the full-pitched deliveries in the mid-150km/h region.
His first spell produced four for 11 off seven overs, and he made it tougher for the left-handers by bowling around the wicket with his dubious, slinging action which has twice been cleared by experts.
Then after Akhtar's inroads into the top order, spin duo Saqlain Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria came in to remove a wicket.
Akhtar's performance took some focus away from a remarkable knock from Inzamam, the 10th highest innings by a test batsman. He was only the 15th player to pass 300 in a test.
The bulky Inzamam, 32 and playing his 81st test, beat his previous highest innings of 200 not out and got within a whisker of Hanif Mohammad's Pakistan record innings of 337 against the West Indies in 1958.
Inzamam batted for 20 minutes short of 10 hours, faced 436 balls and hit 38 fours and nine sixes.
PAKISTAN
First innings
I. Nazir c Richardson b McMillan 127S. Afridi c Hart b Tuffey 0Y. Khan c Fleming b Vettori 27Inzamam-ul-Haq c Tuffey b Walker 329Y. Youhana c Fleming b Martin 29A. Razzaq lbw b Tuffey 25R. Latif c and b Harris 7S. Mushtaq b McMillan 30W. Younis c and b McMillan 10S. Akhtar st Hart b Walker 37D. Kaneria not out 4Extras (1b, 8lb, 1w, 8nb) 18 - - Total (157.5 overs) 643
Fall: 1/1, 2/57, 3/261, 4/355, 5/384, 6/399, 7/510, 8/534, 9/612.
Bowling: D. Tuffey 25-7-94-2 (1w, 7nb), C. Martin 31-12-108-1, D. Vettori 40-4-178-1 (1nb), B. Walker 14.5-3-97-2, C. Harris 29-3-109-1, C. McMillan 18-1-48-3.
NEW ZEALAND
First innings
M. Richardson b Akhtar 8M. Horne b Akhtar 4L. Vincent c Latif b Kaneria 21S. Fleming b Akhtar 2C. Harris b Akhtar 2C. McMillan c Afridi b Saqlain 15R. Hart not out 2D. Vettori not out 0Extras (1lb, 3nb) 4 - - Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs) 58
Fall: 1/12, 2/17, 3/19, 4/21, 5/53, 6/57.
Bowling: W. Younis 5-3-15-0, S. Akhtar 7-3-11-4 (1nb), D. Kaneria 5-1-18-1, Saqlain Mushtaq 3-0-13-1 (2nb).
- NZPA
Cricket: Disaster day for Fleming and team
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