In a match delayed and deeply affected by the loss of Phil Hughes, New Zealand played with the kind of freedom that coincided with the feeling that there is more to life than cricket. Led by their imaginative and aggressive captain Brendon McCullum, the Black Caps played their cricket without pressure, rather with fun as the predominant aim.
The result was a startling display of record breaking batting feats, even after losing a crucial toss and being well behind after the first days play. New Zealand’s innings and 80 run win was built around a monumental first innings effort of 690. The total, New Zealand’s best ever, featured massive hundreds to McCullum (202) and Kane Williamson (192), and half-centuries to Ross Taylor (50), Corey Anderson, Mark Craig (65), and Tim Southee (50). It was an emphatic response to Pakistan’s first innings of 351, which for all intents and purposes should have been even better considering their position of 281-3 at the end of the first day’s cricket.
The returning Mohammad Hafeez, who scored 197, spearheaded Pakistan’s effort when the majority of his colleagues fell for the guise of left-armer Mark Craig. Craig’s 7-94 is comfortably his best bowling figures in Test cricket; the figures also overshadowed the return of Daniel Vettori, who managed a solitary wicket in each innings.
New Zealand’s emphatic response to losing the first test and drawing the second was to pepper the boundary while scoring at just under 5 runs per over in their first dig (in fact, NZ managed their largest number of innings boundaries in their short test cricket history). McCullum’s positivity was undoubtedly at the heart of that response (he managed 21 4’s and 11 6’s in his knock) and obviously contagious amongst the other players as they began the task of taking ten wickets on the flat deck.
Trent Boult was the catalyst for the ten Pakistan wickets that fell on day four and completed NZ’s victory. His opening spell of 3-19 was menacing as it was skillful and removed any chance Pakistan had of holding out for a draw. Only Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed offered anything resembling fight, and even there efforts include luck and endeavour rather than resistance.
The cricket test will be remembered not necessarily for the fantastic individual performances that were abundant in each of the teams turns at bat, but for the spirit in which it was played. Throughout the game, very few bouncers were bowled, wickets were not celebrated, and tributes flowed for a fallen superstar.
New Zealand 690 (McCullum 202, Williamson 192, Rahat 4-99) beat Pakistan 351 (Hafeez 197, Craig 7-94) and 259 (Shafiq 137, Boult 4-38) by an innings and 80 runs.
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