Pakistan's party pooper

Also, notes on Will Young, Pakistan in 300+ chases, Babar vs spin and more.

This was meant to be Pakistan’s house party - a grand celebration with all their friends back home for the first time in decades. But New Zealand showed up, complained about the gauche décor, drank everything in sight, spilled spaghetti Bolognese all over the new cream carpet, and then proceeded to fornicate violently in the master bedroom.

It started so well for Pakistan’s comeback party. Their leggie got a wicket with a carrom ball and their young fast bowler dismissed one of the best batters in the game. All was right in the world. Except, everything after that really went to shit. They couldn’t get Will Young out, then you add Tom Latham to that, and Glenn Phillips slogging. This was a large total on a wicket that seemed to have a touch of variability and some hold in the surface. And then, Pakistan batted. Is that the right term though? They were out there, and they had their kits on. But they seemed to be waiting for the innings to start, I think they began batting somewhere around the 18 over mark. Tough to chase 320 when you give yourself that kind of handicap.

Somewhere right now, Babar Azam is still playing out dot balls, looking for his chance to attack.

Forever Young

At one stage, Will Young was Bannermanning (Cricket’s greatest statistic that in the first Test innings ever we had the batter make the highest percentage of runs in a completed innings). The rest of the Kiwis looked uneasy, and tenativive. Young seemed to be having throwdowns. The Kiwi understudy just strolled through while the frontliners struggled around him.

If I had a critique, it would be that he really slowed down for his hundred. But it was only four balls - it just felt longer because of an umpire’s check on a potential boundary, and him getting stuck at the wrong end. But he was clearly playing for the 100 at a time they needed him to score faster.

Kiwi squeeze

The Kiwi batters put them in a great spot, but you have to respect how the New Zealand quicks came out and backed them up. They got more of the inconsistent bounce and some serious seam movement at times, giving nothing to the Pakistan top order.

But the wicket did look better for bowling too. When Pakistan had the new ball, it looked fairly docile. Mohammad Rizwan’s dramatism made you feel like he was only facing grenades. Of course, he was there because Fakhar Zaman’s back injury meant he couldn’t open. So there were some things in New Zealand’s favour.

Their fielding was a huge part of the pressure though. They had a tight backward point, the point fielder on the circle and cover point was in tight. So when Pakistan found the middle on the offside, they just couldn’t get through. There was a great save or two by Glenn Phillips to keep the pressure on.

Eventually, it was cricket’s greatest entertainer who took the catch - a stunning left hander - to again stop Pakistan from making any runs.

Can Pakistan chase 300+ without Fakhar’s performances?

Pakistan were chasing 321, and by the time Fakhar Zaman came in, they were only 22 for 2 in 10 overs. He only made 24 off 41 today, but for Pakistan he is generally the difference in these chases - scoring at a true average of 55 and a true strike rate of 25. Rizwan is +11 on true average, though he scores slower than par. Babar is only slightly ahead on true average, but he also has a negative true strike rate.