Mount Maunganui (TIP): New Zealand beat Pakistan by 101 runs in the first cricket Test which ended very late on the fifth day on Wednesday,  Dec 30, achieving their third straight win in three home Tests this summer and taking a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. At the same time New Zealand overtook Australia to claim the No. 1 world ranking in Tests for the first time in its history. The victory wasn’t the emphatic one New Zealand likely had envisaged when they came to the fifth day of a Test match for the first time this season holding a sizeable advantage.

Having been set 373 to win, Pakistan was 71-3 — still 301 runs behind — and the New Zealand bowlers who had dismissed Pakistan for 239 in its first innings to give the home side a 192-run lead, still held the upper hand. Pakistan finally was out for 271 at 6.36 pm local time with fewer than five overs left in the day’s play and a draw beckoning.

Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner dismissed No. 11 batsman Naseem Shah to clinch the win after Naseem and Shaheen Afridi had defied New Zealand for almost eight overs as the number of balls remaining in the day dwindled.

The final day didn’t unfold in quite the way New Zealand had hoped or even begun to expect when Trent Boult dismissed the overnight batsman Azhar Ali (38) in the second over of the day.