McCullum smashes fastest NZ tone

McCullum smashes fastest test hundred

The Black Caps skipper completed his tenth hundred off just 78 balls and went on to reach 153 before bad light ended play seven overs early with New Zealand 249 for 1 just 102 runs away from Pakistan’s first-innings total of 351. Captain Brendon McCullum’s belligerent record-breaking century put New Zealand on top in the third test after offspinner Mark Craig’s career-best 7-94 finished off Pakistan for 351 overnight.

McCullum smashed New Zealand’s fastest ever test hundred off 78 ballsThe skipper was unbeaten on 153 off 145 balls, hitting 17 fours and eight sixes, in a 198-run stand with Williamson, who will resume on 76.

McCullum missed Tim Southee’s New Zealand record of fastest test half century by just one ball, when he raced to 50 off 30 deliveries by smashing fast bowler Rahat Ali for two successive boundaries.
Earlier off-spinner Mark Craig took a career best 7-94, his first five wicket haul, as Pakistan lost their last seven wickets for just 70 runs to be all out for 351 after resuming on 281 for 2, squandering a strong position on a flat Sharjah stadium pitch.
Kane Williamson matched McCullum’s aggression and was unbeaten on 76, putting an impressive 198 for the unfinished second wicket stand which gave New Zealand a strong position to level the series which they trail 1-0.

Pakistan won the first Test while the second ended in a draw.
But McCullum’s rapidfire knock was overshadowed by the gloomy atmosphere as Pakistan and New Zealand observed a minute’s silence before start and wore black armbands to join in the mourning for young Australian batsman Phillip Hughes who died Thursday after being hit by a bounce.

Play was abandoned on Thursday after the death of Australia batsman Phillip Hughes, and the match was extended by a day.