Williamson, Nicholls chip away at deficit after early blows

Tea New Zealand 145 for 3 (Williamson 40*, Nicholls 25*, Ashraf 1-22) trail Pakistan 297 (Azhar 93, Jamieson 5-69) by 152 runs

New Zealand were not out of the woods, but were in a far more comfortable position than they were in at 71 for 3 when Ross Taylor departed early in the second session.

Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls overcame probing examinations from Mohammad Abbas in the first hour after lunch, but things have eased out considerably, even though Pakistan have done well to keep a lid on the scoring rate. At tea, their unbeaten partnership was worth 74.

Having dug in, Williamson feasted on some tired part-time bowling of Shan Masood's to pick off boundaries to rev himself up going into the tea interval. His approach was much different to his succession of stabs and deadbats against Abbas' relentless lengths early in the session.

Pakistan would rue the no-ball that reprieved Nicholls on three. He was forced to play at a Shaheen Afridi delivery that held its line with Mohammad Rizwan taking a stunner in front of first slip. New Zealand would've been tottering at 74 for 4 then. But the celebrations had to be aborted as the third umpire confirmed Afridi had overstepped.

Things started on a bright note for Pakistan as they struck to remove Taylor after Abbas had worked him over. He went with hard hands to an away-going delivery, with Masood grabbing a straightforward opportunity at second slip. Taylor hadn't helped his cause by scoring just two runs in over an hour's batting in the lead-up to his dismissal.

For the next 20 minutes, every ball was reduced to an event of sorts, Pakistan maintaining a stranglehold over proceedings, until the no-ball that reprieved Nicholls resulted in a slight shift in body language. The chirp soon dissipated, and while there was still a fair degree of control over the scoring rate, the batsmen seemed to have the wood over the attack in good batting conditions.

Prior to lunch, New Zealand's openers had started solidly in pursuit of Pakistan's 297. They saw off the first hour without any flutters on a sunny morning, but found ways to waste strong starts after doing all the hard work.

It took Naseem Shah's introduction in the 11th over for Pakistan to settle into a bowling template. He induced a leading edge through the slips off his very first delivery, and Faheem Ashraf took cue from there to stick to a wicket-to-wicket line that brought him rewards almost immediately when he trapped Blundell plumb in front.

Having struck Blundell on the pad earlier in the over and then been picked through the cordon off a streaky edge to the third man fence, he had the last laugh. Blundell's half-hearted push to a nip-backer trapped him plumb in front despite standing well outside the crease. Ball-tracking confirmed this would have crashed into the leg stump as Pakistan made excellent use of the DRS.

In the next over, Afridi, brought back into the attack, after a rather lackluster first spell, did what he should have done much earlier. He made Latham play the ball, which jagged away just about enough to induce the edge. Masood made a mess of the catch at second slip, but was thankful to Haris Sohail and his freakishly good reflexes as he grabbed the rebound at first slip. Suddenly, it was two in two for Pakistan, a frustrating morning magically transforming into a fruitful one.