Bond and O'Brien set up thrilling win

New Zealand v Pakistan, 1st Test, Dunedin, 5th day

Bond and O'Brien set up thrilling win

Is Umar Akmal really on debut? The way he stood between Pakistan and defeat, batting like a seasoned pro used to resurrecting top-order collapses on the last day of a match, it didn't seem so. After Pakistan's technically inept top order and some sensational catching brought us to the business part of the last innings - chasing 251 - fairly early at 24 for 3, Umar and Mohammad Yousuf batted serenely to pull Pakistan out of trouble.

Midway into the second session, Chris Martin dismissed Yousuf with an unplayable delivery to restore the balance in the match. In his first over of the match, Grant Elliott missed an easy return catch from an edgy Shoaib Malik, then 6, to let Pakistan sneak ahead again. After a brief run glut, Iain O'Brien produced a jaffa for Malik to restore balance.

Pakistan were way behind when Umar and Yousuf came together in the 11th over. Yousuf drove Martin for boundaries to the right and left of mid-off, and hooked him for a six, all in one over. Yousuf looked much more comfortable than he did in the first innings, bringing the weight forward but also playing late. There were no plays and misses outside off, and Bond too had started to tire, finishing a long spell with figures of 8-3-11-2.

Umar's innings was no runaway blitz; this was a man who seemed to have grown years in age over the last two days. In the first innings, he didn't have time to contemplate the consequences. This time around, Vettori gave him all the time in the world to think. Evidently smarting from the spectacular counterattack in the first innings, Vettori looked to play on the kid's patience and temperament. There was a deep point in place soon as he walked out. The support seamers bowled length and didn't go looking desperately for wickets. When Vettori brought himself on just before lunch, he bowled with five men on the boundary, just giving away a free single. Umar didn't looked fazed by this ploy to dry up the boundaries. By lunch, quietly but surely, he moved to 15 off 62 balls.

Bond came back post lunch for another dig. For the first time Umar was challenged to go for the pull, the shot that scarred all the three seamers in the first innings. This time he weighed in the situation, and started ducking into them. Bond couldn't find the pace of the first innings, and Umar just waited for him to finish his spell, by which time both batsmen had sauntered into their 40s.

Then Martin bowled a ripper out of nowhere. From back of a length, this one kicked up and jagged in towards Yousuf, who did everything right - took the head out of the way, dropped the wrists, but the ball tailed in and kissed the glove. An uneasy partnership followed. Malik scratched around for six runs, but by then Umar had become the ninth batsmen to score a century and a fifty in his debut Test. Vettori looked innocuous too, bowling with same defensive fields and waiting for a mistake.

Elliott then came within one clean grab of being a truly inspirational bowling change. After the drop, though, it seemed a floodgate opened. Malik drove handsomely and guided purposefully through the third-man area. Vettori came back and started bowling over the wicket to Umar. Forty-three runs came in the next 8.5 overs before O'Brien produced a lifter that followed Malik in and took an edge.

Early in the day, taking wickets wasn't hard work at all. Umar Gul took out the last two New Zealanders for just six runs. He set O'Brien up with three back-to-back bouncers - one of which hit him on the helmet - and then delivered the full, knockout delivery. Grant Elliott looked to farm strike, but when he went for a pull to the last ball of a Gul over, he gloved it down the leg side.

Khurram Manzoor pushed at a Bond delivery just outside off, his front foot still in the air at the time of contact. Farhat hung his bat out to a fairly straight delivery from Martin. Fawad Alam looked to turn a ball off his hips, and got a leading edge to silly mid-on.