Hameed and Farhat shine against Auckland

Close Pakistanis 318 (Farhat 73, Hameed 96, Walker 5-55) v Auckland 35 for 1 (Richardson 13*, McIntosh 13*)
Scorecard

Pakistan provided another example of their great capacity for unearthing new batting talent on the opening day of their tour of New Zealand against Auckland. They won the toss, batted first and made 318, with fine half-centuries from Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed.

Farhat continued from where he left off in the recent one-day series against New Zealand in Pakistan, scoring 73 off 70 balls. He added 74 for the second wicket with Hameed, before being dismissed by Brooke Walker, Auckland's legspinning captain, who ended the day with 5 for 55.

Hameed went on to score 96, being caught on the backward-square-leg boundary by Kerry Walmsley, off Paul Hitchcock's bowling, after the trap had been set for him. Auckland's fielding helped to break down the strength in the Pakistanis batting, with Inzamam-ul-Haq smartly run out by Matt Horne as he attempted to take a second run.

Walmsley's catch was outstanding while Horne also took a fine catch later in the innings. After the lightning start by the Pakistani batsmen, it was Asim Kamal who held up the later stages of the innings, scoring 43 off 107 balls. Shoaib Akhtar made 32 off 50 balls.

Auckland suffered a blow when Kyle Mills damaged his shoulder in the field, forcing him out of the rest of the match. He had taken 1 for 20 off seven overs when that happened.

Auckland, when stumps was taken early due to bad light, had reached 35 for 1, with Mark Richardson and Tim McIntosh both on 13 - McIntosh having taken three boundaries from one over by Mohammad Sami.