Lunch New Zealand 301 for 5 (Watling 13*, Santner 11*, Afridi 3-71) vs Pakistan

A pair of timely wickets helped Pakistan keep themselves in contention on a seemingly improving batting surface in Mount Maunganui after Kane Williamson brought up his 23rd Test hundred on the second morning. With the pitch drying out, losing much of its green tinge, and offering significantly less seam movement than on day one, Williamson seemed poised to stretch his score to frightening proportions, and Pakistan seemed set for a long day in the field with Henry Nicholls also going past 50.

But just past the hour mark - by which time Williamson and Nicholls had extended their overnight partnership from 89 to 133 - Naseem Shah made the breakthrough, with a bit of fortune helping him along. Pakistan had been trying to attack Nicholls with the short ball, and Naseem produced a loud caught-behind shout when he hurried Nicholls through a hook from around the wicket. It was given out, perhaps because there seemed to be two noises, and Nicholls, after a lengthy consultation with his partner, declined to review, only for replays to show the ball had brushed both his forearms without hitting bat or glove.

Then Pakistan brought on Yasir Shah in the 18th over of the day, and the legspinner struck with his third ball, drawing Williamson forward with his flight, and finding the edge of his defensive bat with dip, turn and bounce. As with most Williamson edges, the ball barely carried, but Haris Sohail took a sharp one-handed catch diving to his right - it was referred upstairs by the on-field umpires, who signaled a soft signal of not-out, but replays showed quite clearly that Sohail had got his fingers underneath the ball as he fell.

The wickets must have come as quite a relief to Pakistan, who had largely bowled with the same discipline they had shown on day one without having the kind of assistance from the surface that they had earlier enjoyed. They began the day with a seven-over-old ball, but neither Mohammad Abbas nor Shaheen Afridi found any swing, and what seam movement there was was minimal.

Their lines, as a result, were more defensive than earlier, wider outside off in an attempt to play on the batsmen's patience. Neither batsman lacked that quality, and Williamson, on 94 overnight, had to wait until his 14th ball of the morning to add to his score.

Pakistan made their first bowling change in the eighth over of the morning, and that gave Williamson the opportunity to bring up his hundred, with Naseem Shah overpitching and allowing him to unfurl the most pleasing of drives to bisect extra-cover and mid-off. This was Williamson's first Test hundred in his hometown, and having brought it up he immediately switched gears, having sussed out that there was little in the pitch to threaten him.

He began driving balls that weren't quite half-volleys, picking up two off-side fours in this manner off successive balls from Abbas, and then beat mid-off to his left with a back-foot punch off Naseem, finishing with left elbow high and both feet off the ground. Having taken 261 balls to bring up his hundred - his slowest in Test cricket - Williamson had scored 20 off his next 20.

But Pakistan clawed their way back, with a bit of luck finally going their way with the Nicholls dismissal. Yasir continued settling into a good rhythm after dismissing Williamson, even as New Zealand continued going after him - Mitchell Santner stepped out to hit him for a six over long-on soon after arriving at the crease. With the pitch seemingly starting to assist the spinners, Yasir, and how New Zealand's batsmen counter him, could have a significant bearing on the shape of this match.