Tom Latham, Devon Conway lead New Zealand to solid start in 2nd test

Opening batters Tom Latham and Devon Conway hit half centuries to give New Zealand a rapid start of 1190 in the second test against Pakistan on MondayThe lefthanded pair of Latham and Conway survived lbw television referrals to reach lunch unbeaten on 67 and 51 respectively after Tim Southee won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which had little grassLeftarm fast bowler Mir Hamza twice came close to gaining a breakthrough in his return spell 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 in the last half hour of the session before he also completed a half centuryBoth 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 cricket as Pakistan chose to field three fast bowlersAlso readPakistan 1814 leads New Zealand by 7 on 5th day 1st TestConway 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 for a breakthrough in the first sessionNew 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 the aggressive 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 8th 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