De Grandhomme, Raval put New Zealand on top
Colin de Grandhomme celebrated his Test call-up with figures of 6 for 41 – the best by a New Zealander on debut – as Pakistan crumbled in itsfirst innings of the first Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday (November 18).
After de Grandhomme engineered Pakistan's collapse for 133, Jeet Raval, New Zealand's other debutant, helped his team get into a strong position – New Zealand was 104 for 3 with Raval on 55 and Henry Nicholls on 29 when stumps were called.
New Zealand made a rocky start to its reply when Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor could score only 16 runs in total. But Raval and Nicholls then added 64 for the unbroken fourth-wicket stand to put New Zealand in charge.
On what was effectively the first day of the Test following the washout on Thursday, the star was clearly de Grandhomme. The Harare-born former Zimbabwe Under-19 player was picked for the allrounder’s role ahead of Jimmy Neesham and he proved why in style.
Only seven other New Zealand bowlers have taken five or more wickets on debut, with the previous best figures belonging to Tim Southee at 5 for 55, while the best six-wicket haul before de Grandhomme’s was Alex Moir's 6 for 155 against England 65 years ago.
Williamson opted to field upon winning the toss, but Southee and Trent Boult were ineffective and hardly troubled Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali, the Pakistan openers. But once the ball was given to de Grandhomme, everything changed.
With his 15th delivery, de Grandhomme got Azhar to prod at one that seamed back and clattered into the stumps. Azhar was gone for 15 and a 31-run stand had come to an end.
Southee returned to remove Aslam (19) and de Grandhomme took out Babar Azam and Younis Khan, before Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq put on 32 for the fifth wicket to get the innings into some kind of order.
But in the first over after the lunch, Shafiq fell for 16 when a swinging de Grandhomme delivery got an edge through to Raval at second slip, starting a slide in which Pakistan's last six wickets fell for 45 runs.
Misbah offered resistance in a near three-hour innings, reaching 31 off 108 balls, before slashing at a Boult delivery to be caught by Williamson.
Southee disposed of Sarfraz Ahmed and de Grandhomme, who played one One-Day International and four Twenty20 Internationals for New Zealand in 2012, removed Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali without scoring.
In addition to de Grandhomme's 6 for 41, Southee took 2 for 20 while Boult had 2 for 39.
