Black Caps v Pakistan, third test, day four

A few months back Hafeez had made a decision to announce his retirement from cricket but wife Nazia and former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar stepped in to persuade him he still had a role to play.

Eighteen-year-old debutant Shaheen Shah Afridi removed opener Jeet Raval for a duck early in NZ's second innings and fellow opener Tom Latham perished to an ill-judged sweep just before stumps.

ABU DHABI: Pakistan duo Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali both scored hundreds to build a lead of 38 runs over New Zealand on Wednesday and push their team´s case for a series victory. Yasir is now one wicket away from 200 wickets and become the quickest to the mark in Test cricket.

Azhar, the dependable No. 3 batsman, square cut Trent Boult (2-66) over backward point for a boundary off the very first ball of the day and completed his century within the first hour.

With Pakistan facing a familiar top-order collapse, Azhar stitched together a 68-run stand with Haris Sohail (34) to ease their nerves.

Somerville ended his first test innings with the ball with 4-75 off 36 overs, bowling well to the tail.

Both New Zealand spinners couldn't get enough help off the wicket in the first session.

Ross Taylor's (22 off 14 balls) over aggressive approach ultimately led to his downfall when he was caught in the deep as New Zealand slumped to 4-60.

New Zealand came back strongly in the last session with Babar Azam (14) played onto Somerville immediately after the break.

Once the century-makers had departed, Pakistan lost wickets regularly with the comedic highlight being Shah's run out as he shed his shoe turning for a risky second, hesitated, went through with his charge for the bowler's end in his sock and was found short of his ground.

Somerville then wrapped up the innings quickly by claiming the last two wickets to limit Pakistan's lead.