Lunch New Zealand 119 for 0 (Latham 67*, Conway 51*) vs Pakistan
Naseem had started the day bowling short and wide to Latham, who hit the first four of the innings when he actually went full and straight in the fourth over. That began a string of boundaries to follow: Conway hit two off Mir Hamza next over by driving and slashing, before Latham also cut and drove Naseem, capitalising each time the bowler went either too short or too full even as he had chosen to go around the wicket already.
Quick runs forced Babar Azam to shuffle the bowlers, as he had also introduced Hasan Ali and Abrar by the ninth over. But all that made little difference, as Latham continued to find the boundary off Hasan, who gave him the room to drive as well as the ideal length to keep flicking to the leg side.
Next over, Conway twice skipped down the pitch to Abrar, lofting him for four to deep midwicket and launching one for six over long-on, as Pakistan’s only specialist spinner in the match felt the pressure right away. The first 11 overs had fetched 54, before a quiet period followed, with Hasan tightening his lines, and Abrar slowing it down in the air.
But that calmness from the two batters lasted for only five overs, as both continued to target Abrar, who seemed to be bowling too full by then. Babar replaced Abrar with Agha Salman, but Latham pulled him through midwicket in the 19th over, before reversing a leg-before decision off Hamza’s next over. Umpire Alex Wharf gave it out when a good-length ball slightly nipped back in from outside off to strike him on his pads, only for replays to show a faint inside edge after Latham had reviewed instantly.
Two overs later, a frustrated Pakistan then reviewed a not-out verdict by Wharf when Conway was beaten by one that angled in off a good length, only for the ball projected to be going way over the stumps.
That summed up the session for the hosts, who had brought in Naseem and Hasan on a pitch with good bounce and carry. But New Zealand won the toss, and Latham and Conway justified the decision of batting first.