New Zealand A v Pakistan Shaheens (Pakistan A)
Four-Day Match (first-class)
Cobham Oval, Whangarei
17-20 December 2020
PAKISTAN A won by 89 runs
Matt Henry bagged five on day three | Margot Butcher
DAY FOUR
New Zealand A may have got off to a flier in the match, but Pakistan closed it out with bat and ball in determined second innings efforts.
By tea on the final day, New Zealand A was left fighting to stay in the contest, needing a further 153 runs off 41 overs for the win, but with just four wickets remaining.
Earlier, Matt Henry had taken the final second innings wicket to finish with a haul of 6-53 off just 25.3 overs, wrapping up the Shaheens' innings at 329 all out and taking seven for the match.
That left the NZ A batsmen a chase of 297 for the win, but it would prove just beyond the hosts' reach as Pakistan A kept turning the screws on another hot afternoon.
Naseem Shah (3-44 off 12) had ripped out the middle order before any of the New Zealanders managed to get to a half century, leaving the old Otago firm of Nathan Smith and Michael Rippon to attempt a late order rescue act.
But the pair put on just 20 for the seventh wicket before Mohammad Abbas trapped Rippon without having added to his tea score of 7*.
Smith dug in for more than two hours for his fighting 45, and shared a 42-run ninth-wicket stand with Ed Nuttall who again demonstrated he knew what to do with a piece of willow as well an orb of red leather.
He was left unbeaten on 24* after having batted for 73 minutes, meanwhile Ammad Butt (above) had both Smith and last man Michael Rae caught to wrap up victory and walk off Cobham Oval with 3-38.
DAY THREE
DAY TWO
DAY ONE
Canterbury quick Ed Nuttall has taken his first first-class bag for the New Zealand A team, and the fourth overall of his first-class career on the opening day of New Zealand A's first-class fixture against Pakistan A in Whangarei.
Nuttall claimed 5-54 off his 17 overs in his third New Zealand A first-class appearance, helping the hosts bowl out the Pakistan Shaheens for 194 in 73 overs.
Nuttall claims his fifth wicket as Michael Bracewell catches Azhar Ali in the slips
Otago Volts allrounder Nathan Smith backed him up with a tidy 3-59 off 18, including five maidens, on a sweltering afternoon at Cobham Oval - where there was already a sniff of turn in the final session.
Smith had put himself on an unconverted hat-trick with the wickets of Yasir Shah, caught by Joe Carter, and Sohail Khan, caught by Ken McClure in the 60th over.
Pakistan first drop Azhar Ali top-scored for the visitors with a patient 58 off 172 balls after having seen off the early movement - and having seen Nuttall swiftly remove both opening batsmen inside eight overs, after New Zealand A captain Michael Bracewell had won the toss and sent Pakistan A in.
Azhar Ali shared a 49-run stand for the third wicket with Imran Butt, but regular breakthroughs after Butt's departure on 27 cost the Pakistan side the chance to build an imposing total.
By stumps, New Zealand A was 23 for one in reply after the early loss of hometown batsman Henry Cooper, caught off Mohammad Abbas for no score.
Fresh from his century earlier this week against West Indies A, opening batsman Rachin Ravindra and first drop Ken McClure will both resume Day Two on 11* with New Zealand A trailing by 171 on the first innings, with nine wickets in hand.
