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Bore draw Saqlain century marks dreary final day in Christchurch
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) -- Saqlain Mushtaq hit the fourth slowest century by a Pakistan batsman as the second cricket test against New Zealand petered into a dull draw Monday at Lancaster Park. After Pakistan closed its first innings on 571 for eight declared, New Zealand, trailing by 95 runs, scored 196 for one in its second innings before the two captains agreed to call an early close to the match. Pakistan will go into the third and final test at Hamilton on March 17 with a 1-0 lead following its crushing 299-run victory in the series opener in Auckland. There was no hope of a result on this unresponsive portable pitch in Christchurch after Pakistan ground out the New Zealand attack for 210 overs over 12 hours in its first innings to post its second highest total ever against the home side. This was the first draw between the two nations in 12 tests since the third test in Auckland in the 1988-89 series when Pakistan posted its highest total in head-to-heads, 616 for five declared. Opener Matthew Bell (40) became legspinner Younis Khan's first test wicket and was the only Kiwi wicket to fall Monday. Mark Richardson remained unbeaten 73 and Mathew Sinclair was not out 50 when New Zealand made a token declaration after three of the 15 mandatory overs in the final hour. This was after Sinclair's second test double century -- an unbeaten 204 runs in almost nine hours -- had enabled New Zealand to hit up 471 after being sent into bat. It was a courageous batting effort by New Zealand here after it had lost 10 second innings wickets for 40 runs in the first test batting collapse. "It was too good a wicket," skipper Stephen Fleming claimed. "It was hard to force a result. We couldn't win it. There was no penetration for either team, (but) in my opinion they (Pakistan) could have been more positive." Fleming praised Sinclair's efforts and added that the good starts provided by the Black Caps openers had breathed new life into New Zealand's batting. Pakistan was in early trouble here but vice-captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who hit 130 after a three-week lay off due to a groin injury, ensured the visiting side didn't have to follow on. Saqlain, unbeaten on 101, and Yousuf Youhana's career-best 203 prolonged the Pakistan first innings as the seventh wicket pair shared 248 runs over six hours. Pakistan skipper Moin Khan, who was nursing a sore knee and didn't take the field after the tea break, described his side's batting as "tremendous and sensible." "We were faced with a big total. Youhana played a classy innings and Inzamam was equally classy too," he said. "It wasn't a good pitch for the bowlers so that's why we didn't declare early." Saqlain, who had resumed the day on 98, took 24 minutes and 24 balls to post his career-best innings in his 33rd test appearance. He had spent 95 minutes in the nervous 90s. "I was confident I would get," a century, Saqlain said. "Even if I had missed out it wouldn't have mattered. I had done my bit for the team." Saqlain reached his maiden first-class century in 426 minutes and batted for seven hours, 10 minutes to hit a six and 11 boundaries off 291 balls. It was also only the second time a Pakistan batsman had scored his maiden first-class century in a test match following Nasim-ul-Ghani's 111 against England at Lord's in 1962. In scoring speed, the painstaking innings ranked behind Mudassar Nazar's 557 minutes during his 111 against England at Lahore (1977-78) and Hanif Mohammad's two slow efforts -- 468 minutes when he scored 142 against India at Bahawalpur (1954-55) and 460 minutes during the 111 against England at Dhaka in 1961-62.
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