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ScorecardKumar Sangakkara makes a second-ball duck against Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street•PA Photos

It was little wonder that Kumar Sangakkara wasted no time in heading for the nets after his brief debut innings for Durham. When the length of your deal allows for a maximum of four visits to the crease, in what everybody recognises is a useful warm-up for Sri Lanka’s Test series against England, it must be slightly embarrassing if the first of them is a second-ball duck.The Yorkshire bowlers did not bowl as many testing deliveries as they yearned to after setting a formidable first-innings total but Ryan Sidebottom found one for Sangakkara that moved away as he pushed forward and took the edge. It flew to third slip, where Kane Williamson deflected to second slip where Adam Lyth took the catch.Sankakkara’s professionalism in organising that net session was plain to see. And at least there is the opportunity for him to make amends. Durham, eight wickets down, need another 79 to avoid the follow-on, so the odds are that Sangakkara will be required again on the final day. Yorkshire, one way or another, need to take 12 wickets if they are to reap the full reward for their colossal first-innings total.Durham, you suspect, will fancy their chances of securing a draw. They will do so if Mark Stoneman and Michael Richardson play as well as they did in the first innings. There was a century from each: a career-best in each instance.

Stokes believes injury on track

Durham’s England all-rounder Ben Stokes says he will learn next week how close he is to a playing comeback as he recovers from a broken wrist.
He has an appointment on May 12 with the specialist who has been treating the injury, sustained when he punched a dressing room locker in frustration following his dismissal in England’s final Twenty20 international against the West Indies in March.
Speaking at the launch in Covent Garden of the new Royal London One-Day Cup competition, Stokes said, however, that his recovery is on track.
“The specialist will give me a better indication of when I can get back in the nets and eventually start playing but I am on track, recovery wise,” he said.
Stokes added that he hoped to find enough one-day form with Durham to convince England he should bat higher in the order in one-day internationals. “I’ve been up and down the order a couple of times and not had a slot set in stone but I’d like to bat higher up,” he said. “Hopefully if I can get some runs for Durham in one-day cricket I will get the chance.”

They have been in no doubt for some time that Stoneman, an elegant left-hander, is an opening batsman of high quality.In Richardson’s case, after scoring two centuries last season batting at No 8, promotion to five — four until Sangakkara came — gives him a clear an opportunity which, on the evidence so far, he is ready to take.Two half-centuries against Northamptonshire augured well and while he was out more cheaply against Somerset there was something to build on in each innings. This time, he made a start and did not waste it, constructing a half-century with care and then pushing on remorselessly. Stoneman was impressive, but Richardson’s was the innings of the day.Stoneman, unlucky in Durham captain Paul Collingwood’s view not to have been on the England Lions tour last winter, completed his half-century soon after the resumption. Scored off only 54 balls, it had been the most fluent of the match to that point.Afterwards, he needed to dig in. The Yorkshire bowlers, who had rather wasted the new ball on the second evening, found better lines and a more testing length, Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan in particular. The latter, making his first appearance after England asked that he be rested until this match, looked in good order, backing up director of cricket Martyn Moxon’s assertion that there is plenty of cricket to come from him. Liam Plunkett, too, attracted attention by cranking it up around 90mph.Even so, Stoneman did not offer a genuine chance until he had reached his hundred, getting there with two leg-side boundaries off Jack Brooks, who was the least effective seamer on the day. It was his ninth first-class hundred. Six have come since August 2012, which explains why Durham now think so highly of him.He was dropped by Adil Rashid at first slip off Sidebottom on 102, after which he went on to reach 131, having hit 17 fours, before a misjudgement against Plunkett cost him dearly, bringing an lbw verdict as he shouldered arms, a reward for Plunkett’s aggressive post-lunch spell.Richardson, whose arrival at 70 for 3 gave him much to do, was excellent in his support for Stoneman. He took twice as long as his partner to reach 50 but then opened up, scoring his second 50 in half the time. He pulled Brooks for six, hit 14 fours and had just hit Rashid over the rope at long-off when, looking for another big blow, he allowed Andrew Hodd the chance of a stumping. By that time, though, he had moved well past his previous best — 129 against Sussex at Hove last September.

The national selectors have made six changes to the Bangladesh A side for the limited-overs leg of the ongoing West Indies tour. Three of those returning home are likely to join the senior team’s training camp ahead of the ODI series against India which starts June 15.Nasir Hossain, Mominul Haque and Shamsur Rahman have been part of the Bangladesh set-up in the 2013-14 season, and are expected to be retained in the ODI side.The replacements are Farhad Reza, Soumya Sarkar, Arafat Sunny, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain and Shafiul Islam, who will leave on Wednesday night. Bangladesh A will play three one-day matches and two T20s against Sagicor High Performance Centre in Barbados between June 8 and 15.Farhad and Sabbir were in the World T20 squad while Arafat was in the Asia Cup squad, and although all three are also part of the preliminary squad for the India ODIs, they are all but ruled out for that series.Elias Sunny, Mustafizur Rahman and the injured Subashis Roy will also be heading back to Dhaka. Apart from Mustafizur and Subashis, the other four are currently playing the second four-day game against Sagicor High Performance Centre. Mustafizur didn’t play the first four-dayer either, though the selectors had initially said that he is a future prospect who will benefit from touring with the team. Subashis injured his shoulder during the first game.Bangladesh A squad Naeem Islam (captain), Imrul Kayes, Marshall Ayub, Abdul Mazid, Nurul Hasan, Muktar Ali, Robiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Shuvagata Hom, Farhad Reza, Soumya Sarkar, Arafat Sunny, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Shafiul Islam

West Indies opener Chris Gayle has been rested from the two Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand in Dominica, while allrounder Dwayne Bravo remains unavailable due to injury. Allrounder Kieron Pollard, who has not played internationals since July 2013 because of a knee injury but has played domestic cricket since, is set to make a comeback.Bowling allrounder Christopher Barnwell, and batsman Darren Bravo are the new inclusions in the 13-man squad. The three missing from the group that travelled to Bangladesh for the 2014 World T20 are allrounder Marlon Samuels, fast bowler Ravi Rampaul and opener Johnson Charles.Samuels had scored only 86 runs in five innings during the World T20 and was also dropped from West Indies’ Test squad after making a pair in the first match against New Zealand in Jamaica. Neither Rampaul nor Charles played a game during the tournament in Bangladesh. Dwayne Bravo has been sidelined ever since he hurt his shoulder during the IPL in April.The T20 matches will be played at Windsor Park on July 5 and 6.Squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Samuel Badree, Christopher Barnwell, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith

ScorecardAlex Hales’ hundred helped Nottinghamshire overcome a tricky position•Getty Images

An unbeaten century from in-form Alex Hales enabled Nottinghamshire to maintain their challenge for the Championship title with a five-wicket success over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.A mighty six from Hales took him to 102 not out and lifted Nottinghamshire to their victory target of 211 with more than a session to spare on the final day.The 25-year-old Hales, who also struck 16 fours as well as that maximum off Andrew Hall, had shared in a stand of 122 with James Taylor to take the match away from the home side. His only life came on 89, with the finishing line in sight, as Hall put him down at slip off Neil Wagner.Wagner, on debut, had bowled 21 overs without success in the first innings and a further 12 in the second before he rekindled Northamptonshire’s hopes of a shock win by removing Taylor and then Samit Patel in quick succession.However, they gave Hales a second chance and Riki Wessels helped bring the match to a swift conclusion as 21 came off the next Wagner over, the 28-year-old striking three fours and a huge six over long on en route to finishing unbeaten on 29.That proved to be the penultimate over of the match as Wessels and Hales took 11 runs from Hall to seal the match. Hales, who has also scored centuries against Middlesex and Sussex in recent weeks as well as a hundred for the England Lions, believes he is in the form of his life.”I’m absolutely delighted to get us over the line like that. That’s such an important victory in our season but even after losing those early wickets we were still confident and I thought James Taylor played absolutely beautifully,” Hales said.”Riki Wessels totally took the game away from them at the end there and I thought I was running out of chances to get to a hundred. Following the tons for the Lions last week, at Lord’s on Thursday and now today I feel I’m in the best form of my career and I hope it continues.”Northants had made a positive start to the day with Mohammad Azharullah removing both openers for ducks in his first two overs.Steven Mullaney fell to the fourth ball of the day, edging behind to Ben Duckett, who was keeping wicket in place of the absent Adam Rossington. The first runs then came courtesy of two lots of four leg byes but the third time Ajmal Shahzad was hit on the pads was enough for umpire Nick Cook to uphold a successful lbw appeal against him.Worse was to follow for the title contenders as Michael Lumb went for 6. Lumb had scored 99 in the first innings, so his early departure after wandering across his stumps to expose his leg stump to David Willey gave the hosts another massive boost.However, Hales and Taylor then combined to transfer the complexion of the post-lunch session.With Hales repeatedly battering the boundary boards by punishing anything with width, and Taylor cleverly rotating the strike and turning ones into twos, they gradually turned a challenging day into a race for the line with their 29-over stand.The home side had competed as equals for much of the four-day contest but having let Nottinghamshire escape – the visitors having been 25 for four on the first evening – the outcome was ultimately predictable.Nottinghamshire’s victory, their sixth of the season, earned them 23 points and keeps them hard on the heels of leaders Yorkshire, whilst Northamptonshire, still looking for their first Championship success of the season, took only four points from the contest and slipped to their 10th defeat in 12 matches.Despite the loss, Northants coach David Ripley was able to take plenty of positives from the match.He said: “Over the four days it reminded me of the Somerset game where we were competitive over a number of those days, winning at least two, but on the one that we lost Notts made significant strides in getting away from us.”We’ve played against one of the best teams in the country over four days and we’ve got a lot to be positive about. In the Championship, our last two games have been good, competitive games of cricket, not getting hammered by an innings and we’ve had chances to win.”

Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu will return to the New Zealand line-up after being chosen for September’s tour of the West Indies. A 14-player squad has been picked for the trip, which includes four ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals.Satterthwaite and Tahuhu have replaced Katey Martin and Frances Mackay in the only changes from the squad that played in the World T20 in Bangladesh earlier this year. Coach Hamish Barton said both players deserved to be back in the squad.”We gave Amy and Lea some areas to work on and we’ve been really impressed with their commitment to do what has been asked of them,” Barton said. “Both of them have shown in the past that they’re world-class and they’ve still got a lot to offer. They’ve worked incredibly hard to get back in the side and I’m confident they’ll take this opportunity.”We’ve got a number of exciting young players in the side and this tour will be a huge step in their development. However it’s equally important to have players with experience and knowledge of the conditions and we have that too, so we’ve got the right mix.”Squad Suzie Bates (capt), Sam Curtis, Sara McGlashan, Sophie Devine, Katie Perkins, Amy Satterthwaite, Rachel Priest, Felicity Leydon-Davis, Morna Nielsen, Holly Huddleston, Lea Tahuhu, Hayley Jensen, Maddy Green, Georgia Guy.

ScorecardDawid Malan put in a solid all-round performance to help Middlesex to victory•Getty Images

Royal London Cup quarter-finalists Kent lost their unbeaten tag after crashing to a seven-wicket win to Group B rivals Middlesex in Canterbury.Though nothing rested on the outcome, Middlesex coped best with a dry, spin-friendly St Lawrence pitch to outperform Kent in all facets and canter to only their third win in the new format against the previously unbeaten hosts.Having skittled Kent for a paltry 191, Middlesex coasted to victory with 37 balls to spare courtesy of an unbeaten 76 from Dawid Malan for his part in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 59 in tandem with captain Eoin Morgan.Batting first after losing the toss, Kent never got to grips with a wicket used twice previously for Twenty20 matches. With the new ball the surface proved slow and two-paced, then offered assistance to all three Middlesex spinners.The home openers flourished briefly against the visiting seam attack as Daniel Bell-Drummond and acting captain Sam Northeast punished anything marginally short to post 30.The stand finished in bad fortune when Northeast, in aiming to cut Gurjit Sandhu, found a thick edge to be caught in the gully via a ricochet off the gloves of wicketkeeper John Simpson.But it was the introduction of spin that sparked a dramatic collapse. Kent went from the 21st over through to the 35th without scoring a boundary as they set about losing their last eight wickets for 82 runs to be dismissed with 41 balls of their scheduled 50 overs remaining.Ben Harmison played across one to be bowled by Harry Podmore then, after a bright 63-ball 50, Bell-Drummond fell seven balls later when he feathered one to the keeper against left-arm spinner Ravi Patel.The same bowler then drew Darren Stevens down the pitch and turned one past the outside edge for a comfortable stumping and, after a workmanlike cameo 44 without a boundary Fabian Cowdrey scooped one to midwicket off occasional spinner Malan.Alex Blake was bowled around his legs by former Kent opener Joe Denly then Calum Haggett, in attempting to sneak a leg-bye to the keeper, was run out by Simpson’s underarm shy.James Tredwell swished at Toby Roland-Jones to be caught at the wicket and Mitch Claydon holed out to against Denly. Kent’s last pair Sam Billings and Doug Bollinger, in his farewell appearance for the club, added 23 for the 10th wicket before Billings danced down the pitch to Malan to gift another stumping to Simpson.All out by 4.38pm, Kent posted their first sub-200 total in this year’s 50-over competition and faced the ignominy of having to bowl 12 overs before the official innings break.By then, Middlesex had cruised to 56 for 1 and were in total control of their pursuit. The visitors lost opening bat Chris Rogers for 23 when he lent back to cut Bollinger to be well held low in the gully, but Malan and Paul Stirling looked untroubled in batting through to the interval.The visitors had a hundred on the board before Tredwell deceived Paul Stirling in the flight for Billings to complete the stumping then, with 58 more needed, Denly misjudged against Cowdrey to go lbw but it proved the final success of a disappointing Kent display.

South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka

• 1st ODI – October 15, Colombo

• 2nd ODI – October 17, Colombo

• 3rd ODI – October 19, Colombo

• 4th ODI – October 21, Colombo

• 1st T20 – October 23, Colombo

• 2nd T20 – October 25, Colombo

• 3rd T20 – October 26, Colombo

Sri Lanka Women have named uncapped Imalka Mendis in their 14-member squad for the forthcoming home series against South Africa Women, which starts from October 15.The other notable changes to the Sri Lanka squad are the inclusions of Hasini Perera, Ama Kanchana, Sanduni Abeywickrema, Nilakshi de Silva and Prasadani Weerakkody. Wicketkeeper Dilani Manodara, who played for Sri Lanka in their last ODI series against India in January and in the recent Asian Games, has been left out while Chamari Polgampola, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Chandima Gunaratne, Yasoda Mendis have been named on the list of standby players.Both Hasini and de Silva were a part of the Sri Lanka squad for the Women’s World T20 in March this year, while Kanchana last played an international game in March last year. Abeywickrema, a middle-order batsman, last played an international game for Sri Lanka in 2010 and played one game for Sri Lanka A against Australia A earlier in the year.Sri Lanka and South Africa are scheduled to play a four-match ODI series, followed by three T20s. The first three ODIs will also be counted in the ICC Women’s Championship, and will allow both teams to make a mark on the points table. The four ODIs will be held on October 15, 17, 19 and 21, while the T20s will be played between October 23 and 26.Sri Lanka Women: Chamari Atapattu, Hasini Perera, Shashikala Siriwardene, Eshani Lokusuriyage, Sripali Weerakkody, Anushka Sanjeewani, Maduri Samuddika, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Ama Kanchana, Prasadani Weerakkody, Sanduni Abeywickrema, Imalka Mendis, Nilakshi de Silva
: Chamari Polgampola, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Chandima Gunaratne, Yasoda Mendis

Sri Lanka chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has expressed alarm at Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara’s statements to the media regarding team selection, and has said the players’ comments revealed Sri Lanka’s plans. Jayawardene has made public his desire to open the innings, while Kumar Sangakkara suggested he was disappointed to be heading home mid-series, after the selectors had chosen to rest him.Jayasuriya said he had spoken to both Jayawardene and Sangakkara in a meeting with captain Angelo Mathews and coach Marvan Atapattu last Friday, but would now consider leaving the two senior batsmen out of selection discussions.”By the way things are happening, we might even have to keep them out of the meetings where plans are discussed,” Jayasuriya told . “This is setting a dangerous precedent. What they have told media are things that we had discussed at a meeting. They were just basic ideas only. Nothing was final. When they go and tell the media as if it were all their plans, it puts us in an embarrassing situation.”Debates around Jayawardene’s batting position have arisen in selection meetings over the past 18 months, with Jayasuriya among those who believe Jayawardene’s promotion up the order would leave the middle-order too exposed. Jayawardene said he has repeatedly asked to be sent up the order, only stopping short of “going down on my knees to the selectors and asked for me to be allowed to open”, because he feels he plays his best cricket at the top of the order.Meanwhile, upon his departure from India, Sangakkara had said: “Nobody likes to leave a series in the middle, especially when losing”. He had also suggested Dinesh Chandimal bat at No. 3 in his absence, and Lahiru Thirimanne take up a spot at No. 6.”Those are decisions that the national selectors should take, not the players,” Jayasuriya said. “If the players are going to do our job, what is the point of having selectors there at all?””I had a one to one chat with Sanga and he did not protest the decision at all. Selectors had already decided when they named the squad for the India tour to rest Sanga and Dhammika Prasad for the last two ODIs. Sanga keeps wickets and then needs to bat long. It is a tall order and with so many fixtures against England and New Zealand coming up, we need to manage the seniors carefully. It was a case of preserving him for the long schedule ahead rather than looking for a win at all expense.”Jayasuriya has leveled similar criticism at Jayawardene and Sangakkara before. In March, Jayasuriya had said he felt “very let down” by the players, when they had effectively announced they would quit T20 internationals, before they had confirmed their retirements with the selectors.”Discussing plans with media is not the ideal way to face the challenges,” Jayasuriya said.

Denesh Ramdin has reason to want to forget the last time West Indies played Tests in South Africa. He was going through a rough patch and scored only 109 runs in the three-Test series, which was sandwiched between rubbers against England and Sri Lanka where he didn’t manage much more. But Ramdin is forcing himself to remember the summer of 2007 because it was a season when West Indies enjoyed a rare success.They beat South Africa in Port Elizabeth – their only win in the country – in the series opener and were dreaming of much more. “The last time we were here we won the first Test match but then we didn’t show the fight and determination for the rest of the series,” Ramdin said. “This time we will let that motivate us and we will try and go one step further.”If Ramdin is talking literally, he is asking his men for two victories which will see them take the Sir Viv Richards trophy off South Africa and topple the World No.1s. That West Indies, who are ranked 8th with only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe below them, have allowed themselves to think that far seems admirable. That they are doing so while missing two headline batsmen in Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo appears nothing more than wishful. But Ramdin is lining his fantasy with reason.”Of course for any team that loses Chris Gayle, it’s a blow for them and everyone would have loved to see Darren here batting – he is a free stroke-playing guy but he’s got personal issues,” Ramdin said. “So hopefully a young player can take the opportunity to do well for himself and the team. There are a couple of young players in the mix but then a couple of senior players – [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul, myself, Marlon Samuels – who will guide them through.”Kraigg Brathwaite will hope he can step up in the absence of Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo and make a name for himself in South Africa•WICB

Batting big is going to be West Indies’ priority and it may be why they arrived in the country with more than two weeks to go before the first Test. “We are trying to acclimatise to the pitches as quickly as possible,” Ramdin said. West Indies have one three-day tour match against an Invitation XI next week but will be based up country where they can enjoy the spicy surfaces at grounds like the Wanderers and SuperSport Park as they prepare.Their focus will be on readying the top-order for resistance against Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel. “They have a very strong bowling line-up but we have to bat really long and not give them opportunities with the new ball to get the middle and lower order in,” Ramdin said.They may even ask Gayle, who is in the country playing for the Johannesburg-based Lions’ franchise in the domestic twenty-over competition, for some advice. “He always has wise words and he will be a motivating factor,” Richie Richardson, West Indies team manager said. “If he is around the hotel and he wants to meet us, we will invite him in.”Ultimately, though, it will be up to Devon Smith, Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood to step up and Ramdin is confident they will. He pointed to Smith – fresh off a century for Windward Islands – and Brathwaite’s domestic form and urge them to make the most of the chance to “make a name for themselves,” in South Africa. “It’s very important that guys who are set don’t leave it up to the other players,” Ramdin said. “If you get hundred, you should score a big hundred. When you do that you keep the opposition out of the game.”And he did not forget about the job his bowlers will have to do. On lively pitches, Ramdin hopes Jerome Taylor and Shannon Gabriel can give South Africa a taste of their own medicine. “We have a very good bowling line-up as well,” he said. “The new ball is going to be very important and we will try and expose the middle and lower order of the South Africans.”But the undercurrent of Ramdin’s tough talk was that his men would actually be the ones on the back foot over the next five weeks and anything more than that would be a bonus. “It will be a very tough series for us,” he admitted. “It’s going to be tough mentally. We have not been playing Test cricket as we would like to play so we really need to play some good cricket here.” If they do, then the 2007-08 series can return to where it belongs: the back of Ramdin’s memory bank.

Hesson ‘pleased’ with spinners’ performance

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson is optimistic about his bowlers’ performance – both seamers and spinners – who took 15 wickets in the second Test in Dubai, compared to only five in the first Test in Abu Dhabi. Hesson said the seamers’ outing in Abu Dhabi was only an “aberration.”
“They are two quality bowlers [Tim Southee and Trent Boult] who in the last couple of years have performed everywhere,” Hesson said. “It was a bit of an aberration in Abu Dhabi where they weren’t able to create anything but they still bowled tightly enough. Those guys have gone away and worked on a few things and tried to find ways of creating opportunities. I thought the way they kept chugging in today was exceptional, and over the last five days was great.”
Hesson said his spinners were not used to bowling on subcontinent pitches but he was pleased with the way they had adapted in the two Tests.
“Our spinners aren’t used to bowling on conditions with footholes playing such a part,” he said. “Pakistan spinners beat us off the wicket and at home traditionally we try and beat guys in the air. When you have footholes to hit, it’s very hard to change the method that you’ve trained your whole life. I thought the way Ish [Sodhi] and Mark [Craig] have adapted over the last couple of Tests is pleasing but they are still striving for consistency of pace as well.
“[Yasir] Shah and [Zulfiqar] Babar don’t give away lot of freebies so you’ve got to scrap hard for your runs. And that’s something that our spinners are learning, these guys are little more experienced than us but we are getting better.”

When your opponent has chased down a score of 300 at more than five runs an over in recent memory, most captains could be forgiven for approaching a second-innings declaration with caution. Brendon McCullum is happy to describe himself as an “eternal optimist”, however, and preferred to dangle the carrot of victory in front of Pakistan rather than take the draw that would keep alive New Zealand’s chances of levelling the series.No matter that Pakistan had chased 302 in 57.3 overs in Sharjah at the start of the year to overcome a defensive-minded Sri Lanka; McCullum was confident enough to set them 261 in 72 overs, in the hope that temptation might get the better of Misbah-ul-Haq’s previously impervious side.With Pakistan 75 for 4 and tea some way off, McCullum’s gamble looked to have been well-judged. Asad Shafiq’s dogged innings, in partnerships with Younis Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed, made sure Pakistan would hold on to their 1-0 lead but New Zealand could draw strength from denying the hosts a fourth straight Test victory while maintaining their chances of squaring the series in Sharjah next week.”When you’re making those kind of decisions, you look at the history of what’s happened, how the opposition team has responded in situations like this and try and get a bit of information, rather than having to come up with a willy-nilly score,” McCullum said. “So we looked at all of that stuff, the strength of their line-up, and we thought if we keep them semi-interested, that would give us our greatest opportunity.”We didn’t want to hand it to them, that’s for sure, because we worked far too hard throughout the game to make a reckless decision. But the one we came up with kept them interested but also kept us interested and gave us enough time if we’d been able to knock over the top order. Credit to them but we’ll walk away pretty happy as well.”Having posted 403 in their first innings, New Zealand were looking at a significant lead when Pakistan were reduced to 312 for 9. However, Sarfraz battled his way to a century during a last-wicket stand worth 81, which McCullum said prevented New Zealand from “dictating play a little bit more”.New Zealand were then wobbling at 125 for 5 in their second innings but recovered through Ross Taylor’s century. In keeping with his reputation for positive captaincy, McCullum chose to declare New Zealand’s innings nine down, after a brief salvo from Tim Southee took the target above 250, to give the visitors their best chance of victory.”I thought it was a pretty fair declaration, there was enough there for the batting team to stay interested if they got off to a good start and there was also enough time for us if we’d been able to knock over the top order reasonably quickly to be able take 10 wickets on a wearing track,” McCullum said. “From our point of view, we’re trying to win Test matches and hence we went down that route rather than looking to try and bat out more of the day. I thought it was a brilliant Test match and, whilst there was no winner, a really good advert for Test cricket.”It almost deserved a winner, it was that good a Test. We’ll hark back to that 10th-wicket partnership where if we’d been able to make inroads at that point we’d have been able to go on and dictate play a little bit more. But it wasn’t to be and credit has to go to Sarfraz, I thought his innings under an immense amount of pressure was outstanding, the way he shepherded the lower order through to that score.”In times gone past there’s probably a tendency for us to have gone into our shell after losing some of that momentum but I thought the way we came out and played positively and with some intent, looking to try and win the Test match was a real credit to us. It’s a really good sign from my point of view because it shows that a young team is prepared to play aggressive cricket to get some wins in the column. The wins are what you remember most – we’ll remember a lot out of this Test match but it would have been great to get across the line. It was certainly a gamble worth taking.”McCullum conceded that “winning the toss helped”, breaking Pakistan’s run of batting first and racking up match-winning scores, and he will hope to call correctly again at the start of the third Test, as New Zealand seek to extend an unbeaten run in series stretching back to May 2013. More runs from Taylor, after a relatively dry year, would also aid their chances.”Ross’ innings was brilliant,” McCullum said. “The game was teetering. For him to come out, he’s been a little bit lean on runs in the series, to have that utter confidence in his game, his proactive-ness put some pressure back on Pakistan. To keep doing that in trying circumstances takes a lot of courage and it was great to see him get a hundred and get us into a position where we could make a bold declaration. That was a big feather for us as well, delighted for Ross and delighted for the group, we’ll take a lot out of that innings and the way we responded.”