Tom Blundell historic record
The New Zealand wicketkeeper Tom Blundell accomplished a unique feat that earned him a place in the 145-year history of Test cricket. As a result of Blundell’s stumping of Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood, the first two wickets to fall in a men’s cricket Test match were ever impacted by stumpings. Let us look at details on Tom Blundell historic record.
In the fourth over of the game, NZ captain Southee gave the ball to Ajaz Patel and hit the target, sending Shafique back in his first ever return. Ajaz pulled back his length to discover Shafique jaywalking outside the crease as the Pakistani opener charged down the wickets.
New Zealand had their second breakthrough after 3 overs, when Masood bizarrely dismissed Bracewell by giving him the charge but failing to make contact with the ball at all. Blundell achieved a feat never before seen in Test cricket when he collected the ball and whipped off the bails. The first two wickets fell to stumpings in a Women’s Test match between Australia and West Indies back in 1976.
Pakistan uses England’s ‘Bazball’ approach
The Babar Azam-led side faced a criticism at the same time. Pakistan attempted to bat aggressively in an effort to mimic England’s “Bazball,” but the strategy failed. The other two wickets to fall before Babar weathered the storm by batting wisely were Imam-Ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel.
After suffering back-to-back series losses at home to Australia earlier this year and England just last week. Pakistan is currently playing against the BlackCaps, who they recently defeated in the T20 World Cup semifinals, but getting the wood over them in Tests is going to present a completely different threat, as was demonstrated during the day’s opening session, when Pakistan lost three of its batters before reaching the score of 50.
PAK vs NZ 1st test update
However, a solid partnership between current skipper Babar Azam and the ex-skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed put their innings on track and Pakistan are now 276 for 4, while the last session is going on.
Sarfaraz Ahmed, who hadn’t played in the longest format of the game for nearly four years, has been seeing in good form as he already crossed the 70-run mark, and is still at the crease alongside Babar Azam, who recorded his ninth test century today.
Sarfaraz last played a test against South Africa back in January 2019 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
The former skipper, however, impressed everyone during his stint with Sindh in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2022-23. The seasoned wicketkeeper batter scored 394 runs at an average of 43.77 in 8 games, including one century and three half-centuries.
Sarfaraz found a place in the team over Mohammad Rizwan, who recorded just 141 runs in the 3-match red ball series against England at an average of 23.50.
