Imran Farhat's rare cricketing achievement counteracted Iain O'Brien's stunning curtain call before the first day's play in the third cricket Test between New Zealand and Pakistan ended with the home side in a good position at McLean Park on Friday.Farhat's long overdue third test century enabled him to become only the fourth Pakistani batsmen to carry his bat through an innings.His 117 spared the tourists from total capitulation after retirement-bound O'Brien opened his farewell test with a four-wicket burst that had them reeling at 51 for five before lunch.
Thanks to Farhat's charmed 286 minutes at the crease - and valuable assistance from the tail - Pakistan recovered to post 223 on a pitch not as treacherous as the scorecard indicated.In the 19 overs available before bad light stopped play, New Zealand reached a soothing 47 without loss, their highest opening partnership of the series.Like Farhat, Tim McIntosh (31) and debutant BJ Watling (13) both enjoyed reprieves. McIntosh successfully employed the umpire decision review process after being adjudged leg before wicket to
Mohammad Asif by Billy Doctrove when yet to score . Then there was a suspicion Watling might have been caught at the wicket on 10 but Pakistan did not refer Doctrove's rejected appeal to third umpire Simon Taufel.McIntosh and Watling resume eating into a 176-run deficit tomorrow. Pakistan's decision to bat on a wicket predicted to offer the seamers greater than usual assistance was under scrutiny once TimSouthee celebrated his 21st birthday by uprooting Salman Butt's middle stump.
O'Brien removed the recalled Faisal Iqbal, then dislodged Pakistan's batting axis - Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal - before they could record a run between them.Yousuf edged a cramped cut to McIntosh at second slip to end an uncomfortable 14-ball stay, while Akmal gave Martin Guptill catching practice in the gully instead of leaving a short ball or plugging it through point.Four balls later O'Brien had Misbah-ul-Haq caught at the wicket -- the first of Brendon McCullum's five catches -- to give O'Brien a dream analysis of four for three from five overs.The 33-year-old's subsequent spells went unrewarded as Daryl Tuffey (4-52) mopped up a tail that dragged Pakistan from 90 for six to a semi-respectable total.
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