Raval, Williamson steady in 105 chase

New Zealand 200 and 58 for 1 (Williamson 31*, Raval 16*) need 48 more to beat Pakistan 133 and 171 (Sohail 41, Wagner 3-34, Boult 3-37) Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Jeet Raval, gutsy and unafraid to look ugly on the face of a challenge, came through a testing new-ball burst to help New Zealand inch closer to a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. He had Kane Williamson, the captain, for company as New Zealand went into lunch on 58 for 1, needing 47 more to arrest a four-match losing streak.

What could have been a tricky chase had they lost a couple of early wickets was converted into a slow jog by Raval and Williamson, who batted for 45 minutes to add 39 in 9.4 overs at the interval. Once the initial 20 minutes were weathered, runs that appeared to be at a premium for large parts of days two and three were had much more freely. Williamson, in particular, exhibited some fine cuts and delicate little dabs to finish unbeaten on 31 off 33 balls at the interval.

Mohammad Amir, struggling with no-balls at times, wheeled away relentlessly and was rewarded with the wicket of Tom Latham, caught fending to gully, but the batsmen didn’t have much trouble facing Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali, who picked up seven wickets between them in the first innings. Yasir Shah, the legspinner, was largely restricted to a containing option on a …

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