Wellington, December 13: Don’t shake your head in disbelief when you look at the scorecard. Daryl Tuffey, whose previous best was 35, almost reached his maiden Test hundred as New Zealand gained complete control of the deciding Test in Napier.
It took a special catch to dismiss Daniel Vettori, and Tuffey was eventually left stranded on 80, but by then they had given New Zealand a first-innings lead of 248. Danish Kaneria took three wickets to complete a seven-wicket haul and the Pakistan openers stitched together an determined 72-run stand, but the visitors still had a mountain to climb.
Tuffey’s innings showed the Napier pitch was still good for batting. It also said much about Pakistan’s listless bowling display and highlighted the mess they dragged themselves into due to their poor first-innings performance. As you would expect from a third-day track, Danish Kaneria found some spin and completed his five-for but the morning belonged to Vettori and Tuffey.
Vettori cruised along, using his bottom hand to flash length deliveries through cover and carve short-of-a-length balls through cover point, and continued to improvise without much risk. Like he did so effectively last evening, Vettori teased Pakistan with his calculated shuffles. He moved towards off to flick to square-leg and would create more room for his cuts by arching back. Pakistan didn’t have anyone with pace to hurry Vettori into making mistakes and it took a stunning fielding effort to dismiss him. Vettori drove one well to the left of short extra cover where Umar Akmal flung himself to hold on to the catch catch. Vettori was gone but Tuffey prolonged Pakistan’s agony.
Tuffey had a few problems against Kaneria – he was dropped, on 32, by Umar Gul at long-leg off an attempted sweep and survived couple of plausible appeals for lbw – but he was solid against the fast bowlers. He handled the short ball without problems and cut at every opportunity. He brought up the fifty partnership with Vettori and his half-century with cut shots, and dispatched Kaneria over long-on.
Tuffey’s best, though, was a gorgeous on drive that bisected long-on and long-off. He leaned forward to a flighted legbreak, took his front leg out of the way and drove through the line, past the startled bowler. It was a shot that a top-order batsman would have been proud of, and it not only reflected his confidence but also said much about Pakistan’s state of mind.
——Agencies