Boult takes four as Black Caps level series

sharjah, november 30
Paceman Trent Boult took four wickets as New Zealand beat Pakistan by an innings and 80 runs to win the third and final Test within four days and level the series 1-1.
Pakistan, who won the first match of the series in Abu Dhabi by 248 runs, were all out for 259 in their second innings. Asad Shafiq staged a lone battle for Pakistan and completed his fifth Test hundred with an aggressive 137 off 148 balls but ran out of partners in the end.
“Really tough circumstances to play the Test match here,” New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said at the presentation ceremony, referring to the death of Australia's Phil Hughes. “Our thoughts were elsewhere for majority of the game. When we look back at this result in due course we will obviously be very proud.”
On a docile pitch at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium where New Zealand posted their highest total in Tests, the 25-year-old Boult extracted enough movement and pace to rattle the Pakistan top order. Boult dismissed Shan Masood (4) in the third over, bowled Azhar Ali (6) with the last delivery of his fourth and then returned to dismiss Younus Khan for a duck leg before with the first ball of his next over.
Offie Mark Craig, who took seven wickets in the first innings, continued to punish Pakistan by dismissing opener Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq.
With Pakistan reeling on 63-5, Sarfraz Ahmed (37) decided to take the attack to the bowlers and added 73 for the sixth wicket with Shafiq.
But leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who saw Sarfraz dropped twice off his bowling in one over, took out the wicketkeeper-batsman and Yasir Shah (10) to take New Zealand closer to victory. The 28-year-old Shafiq smashed 18 fours and six sixes in his knock and added 78 for the ninth wicket with Rahat Ali to delay New Zealand's celebration. He fell to Boult. Rahat was the last man out and gave Craig his 10th wicket in the match.
Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who returned to Tests for the first time since July 2012, also chipped in with a wicket in what could be his last match in the format.
Earlier, New Zealand's first innings closed on 690 with Craig (65) becoming the sixth batsman to score at least a half-century in the innings. — Reuters