Good start on the first day
lost Islam early on
Then Iqbal when he was looking set for a century. Aftab Ahmed becomes the first player under my regime to score 2 centuries!
All out just before the end of day 2 with a good defendable score. We need to bowl tight. It seems there is a bit of turn on this pitch but NZ didn't have any spinners to exploit it so it looks as though we could.
Atiqur Rahman's 69 was a good stable innings after we lost a couple of quick wickets. The captain Sonet was out 47 and his failure to convert starts into big scores worries me.
I guess he's just like his opposite number, Fleming
.
Manjural Islam once again provided late order resistence with 46...
NZ came into bat late on the 2nd day and looked wobbly. They lost Fleming and McMillan early on the third day to be 2-33. NZ batted slow and cautious and we didn't knock them over quick enough or exploit opportunity's.
Jacob Oram got to 103 with support from Fulton, Richardson and Sinclair. When Oram was out Astle and Sinclair hung around but once Astle (59) was gone it didn't improve much with McCullum hanging around (albeit for 22) while Sinclair went to 130. Manjural bowled well and a lot, taking 5-129 from 40 overs. NZ all out 381.
We didn't get them out quick enough so when we came back in to bat late on day four with a lead of just 86 we would have to bat quickly.
After a good opening partnership (59) we lost a few wickets and were 4-100, a lead of 186 before lunch on the final day. This wouldn't be enough to defend over two sessions so we played for a draw, not looking to pull off any spectacular win. Negative, maybe. Smart, yes.
Aftab Ahmed edged to another century (and a half!) with no less than 6 partners. Manjural Islam once again showed his all round class with 72. Ahmed was out slogging in the final few overs for 157, the first batter to get a century in both innings and 3 centuries in total for me.
In the end, a good draw for us.