Devon Conway century leads New Zealand to strong 226-1 in 2nd test

Devon Conway hit his fourth test hundred to help New Zealand build a strong total in the second test against Pakistan on MondayConway and his opening partner Tom Latham 71 added a second successive century stand before Naseem Shah brought the lone success when he had Latham trapped leg before wicket of a full delivery after lunch as New Zealand reached a solid 2261 at teaConway was unbeaten on 120 off 179 balls and former captain Kane Williamson who scored an unbeaten 200 in the drawn first test reached 29 at the breakConway and Latham shared 134 runs on a wicket which had some grass and tempted Pakistan to include an extra fast bowler and go with only one specialist spinner Abrar AhmedBoth lefthanded opening batters dominated the pace and spin in the first session to produce 119 runs and even showed aggression against Abrars mystery spin after Tim Southee won the toss and elected to batLeftarm fast bowler Mir Hamza twice came close to gaining a breakthrough in his return spell before lunch but first Latham successfully overturned onfield umpire Alex Wharfs lbw ruling and then Pakistan went for an unsuccessful leg before wicket TV referral against Conway before he also completed a half centuryHasan Ali in his return to test cricket twice found the edges of Conways bat in successive overs after lunch only to see the ball fall short of Abdullah Shafique in the slips and then Saud Shakeel couldnt hold onto a sharp chance in gully while diving full length to his rightConway completed his century off 156 balls with 13 fours and a six with a flick of Hamza to midwicket and ran three while Williamson also kept the bowlers at bay with his determined battingAlso readTom Latham Devon Conway lead New Zealand to solid start in 2nd testEarlier Latham and Conway completed their half centuries before lunch and provided New Zealand a solid startBoth batters motored New Zealand to 63 inside the first hour and batted aggressively against fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Hasan Ali who made comebacks to test cricketConway used his feet well once the lone specialist spinner Abrar Ahmed was introduced as early as in the ninth over Conway raised New Zealands half century with a six against the mystery spinner over wide midon as Pakistan struggled to get through the defensesNew Zealand on its first test tour to Pakistan since 2002 had made a strong bid to chase down 138 in the last hour of the first test of the twomatch series last Friday after Pakistan captain Babar Azam made a daring declaration Poor visibility halted the Black Caps at 611 in the eighth over to draw the gameHasan was recalled having last played for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in July and missing the 30 whitewash at the hands of England last monthNaseem also returned after fully recovering from the shoulder injury that sidelined him from the last two tests against England and the first test against the Black CapsNew Zealand made one change playing fast bowler Matt Henry in place of Neil WagnerFridays draw broke both teams fourmatch losing streaks which included 30 losses for each against EnglandThe Pakistan Cricket Board was forced to organize both test matches in Karachi due to weather concerns in Multan where winter smog and fog have delayed flights and may have disrupted hours of playPakistan is languishing at No 7 on the ICC world test championship table while New Zealand has endured even more disappointment and is eighth despite beating India in the inaugural WTC final at Lords last yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever