New Zealand gained a slight advantage on the second day of the second cricket test Saturday, holding Pakistan to 52-2 in reply to its first innings of 366.
Mark Richardson made 82 and Jacob Oram 97 to direct New Zealand's escape from its tenuous position at 151-5 overnight. Pakistan lost opener Imran Farhat and the dangerous Yasir Hameed in 32 overs before stumps to allow New Zealand to take a slight initiative into the third day.
Oram's innings, his second half century and highest score in tests, was the most decisive contribution to a day on which batsmen struggled to play with authority.
He joined Richardson when New Zealand was 171-6, when the opener was attempting to stop the decline of the home team's innings.
Richardson was once again the anchor of the New Zealand innings. He stayed at the crease for 439 minutes, from the first ball of the first day through the middle of the fifth session, to take on Pakistan's principal pace attack. Oram gave him dedicated support and the pair added 76 for the seventh wicket to give some force to New Zealand's decision to bat first on a placid pitch.
When Richardson was out in the 107th over, Oram took up the cause and carried New Zealand's total towards respectability.
Oram's most significant contribution was to see off the second new ball with Richardson, the fiery spells of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, at a time when New Zealand's innings was perilously balanced.
"The whole test probably rests on the morning session tomorrow,'' Oram said. ``If we can nip out a couple of them and maybe have them five or six down by lunch, it will be heavily in our favor."
BASEBALL LEGEND: Sadaharu Oh, who flew against his doctor’s advice to throw the first pitch at the Taipei Dome, said he had high expectations for baseball in Taiwan Taiwan yesterday defeated South Korea 4-0 in the opening game of the Asian Baseball Championship in front of a crowd of more than 16,000 at the newly opened Taipei Dome. The team was led by a starting pitcher Hsu Ruo-hsi, who in a dominant performance recroded 10 strikeouts and allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings on the mound. Eighteen-year-old Sun I-lei came to close out the final two innings, ensuring that Taiwan hung on to their four-run lead, after scoring three runs in the third inning and another in the fourth. The eight-day championship is to take place
NIGHT OF FIRSTS: In the first official game at the Tapei Dome on Sunday, not only did Taiwan notch a win over South Korea, they also recorded the stadium’s first hit and RBI The Philippines yesterday dominated Thailand 14-4 at the Taipei Dome in the opening game of Group B on the second day of the Asian Baseball Championship, while Palestine pipped Hong Kong 3-1 in Taichung in Group A. World No. 35 the Philippines put themselves on the board early, racking up two runs in the first inning, followed by two in the third, one each in the fourth and fifth, and three in the sixth. Thailand, ranked 43rd in the world, did not get on the board until the top of the seventh inning, when they tried to stage a comeback, putting up
TROUNCED: Taiwan beat Palestine in six innnings on day three of the Asia Baseball Championship, while it took just five innings for Japan to defeat Thailand Taiwan yesterday beat Palestine 19-0 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on the third day of the Asian Baseball Championship. The Group A game was over in six innings after a 6:03pm start. Taiwan went on the offensive from the first inning, scoring three runs, but the real damage was done in the third inning, when they scored seven. The Palestine players are all studying or working in the US. In another duel between two unevenly matched teams, Japan thrashed Thailand 16-0 in their late Group B game at the Taipei Dome. They won in five innings thanks to the mercy rule, which states
NATIONS LEAGUE: England crushed Scotland 6-0, but their Olympic hopes were ruined when the Netherlands beat them on goal difference with a 4-0 win against Belgium Germany and the Netherlands on Tuesday booked their places at the UEFA Women’s Nations League finals , where they are also to fight for spots at next year’s Paris Games, but there was heartbreak for England whose hopes of competing in the Olympics were dashed, despite beating Scotland 6-0. Germany drew 0-0 in Wales, but secured their passage thanks to Iceland’s 1-0 win over Denmark. The Netherlands needed a 95th-minute goal from Damaris Egurrola to see them to a 4-0 win over Belgium which meant they edged England on goal difference in Group A1 after the FIFA Women’s World Cup runners-up hammered