Cricket: Saeed sinks Kiwis at Basin stronghold

New Zealand 175; Pakistan 398-4

A SPLENDID innings of 169 by Saeed Anwar, his maiden Test century, was the principal component as Pakistan laid the foundations of a commanding advantage in the second Test yesterday to leave New Zealand, already trailing by 223, in danger of their first defeat at the Basin Reserve for 24 years.

On a pitch playing flatter than on the first day the home seamers who had taken wickets in Auckland, Simon Doull and Richard De Groen, were harmless. No wonder Imran Khan, here to raise money for his cancer hospital in Lahore, urged Sir Richard Hadlee to come out of retirement. This is not a pitch on which a bowler can hold the seam and let the surface do the rest.

New Zealand had their chances, notably a missed stumping when Basit Ali was on 35 and a missed catch at the wicket when Saeed was 72, but overall they continued to be outclassed. Saeed, who is

always looking to play his strokes, batted 307 minutes and hit 26 fours before being run out when his partner

refused a sharp third run. Basit struck the ball with glorious timing if an occasional air of boredom before being bowled round his legs sweeping at the makeshift off-spinner Shane Thomson, allowing Salim Malik and Inzamam-ul-Haq to end the day with a flourish in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 108 in 17 overs of delightful strokeplay.

(Second day: New Zealand won toss)

NEW ZEALAND - First Innings 175 (Wasim Akram 4-60).

PAKISTAN - First Innings

(Overnight: 35 for 1)

Saeed Anwar run out169

Akram Raza c Blain b Morrison0

Basit Ali b Thomson85

* Salim Malik not out62

Inzamam-ul-Haq not out63

Extras (lb6 nb6 b5)17

Total (for 4, 102 overs)398

Fall (cont): 2-36 3-233 4-290.

To bat: Asif Mujtaba, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Ata-ur-Rehman.

Bowling: Morrison 24-4-102-2 (nb1); De Groen 20-5-62-0; Doull 23-5-88-0 (nb2); Hart 22-7-78-0 (nb3); Thomson 13-3-57-1.