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Daniel Vettori missed out on a well deserved hundred by a whisker in Dunedin on a rain-marred second day of the first National Bank Series test between New Zealand and Pakistan. The Kiwi skipper fell for 99 on a day where a session and a half of play was lost due to rain. New Zealand did however manage to reach a competitive 404 for 8 at the close of play, setting up this match perfectly heading into the third day.

If Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum were seen fighting with their backs on the wall on the first day, the first session of the second day saw them opening up their shoulders quite a bit and thrilling the crowd with some tremendous strokeplay. It was a delight to watch McCullum in particular, cutting and pulling the ball with authority, countering some fiery fast bowling from the Pakistanis. Even a nasty Aamer flier hitting him on the cage of the helmet did little to restrict the flow of strokes. McCullum managed a neat 78 (154 balls 12 x 4) before getting castled by a beauty from Umar Gul.

At the other end, Vettori was determination personified. Some of his drives through the cover region, particularly off the front foot, were of top quality. His innings of 99 from 133 balls (14 x 4) alongside the equally diligent effort of McCullum helped the Kiwis ensure that the hard work done by Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor yesterday was not put to waste. Vettori fell an agonizing run short of his century, trying to glide an Umar Gul delivery to third-man but instead giving an eager Kamran Akmal a routine catch on what was the penultimate ball of the day!

Pakistan can draw some satisfaction from the tremendous promise shown by emerging young fast bowler Mohammed Aamer. The left-armer was consistently hitting the 140 kph mark and was extracting some good bounce from the wicket. Mohammed Asif's remarkable comeback is another positive for Pakistan which was lately found deprived of a strike bowler particularly following the lack of fitness of speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar.

Tomorrow's play will be crucial to both the teams, as the Kiwis would now definitely press for a test victory that has turned into a rarity of late, Pakistan's batsmen are unlikely to have it easy when they come up against Shane Bond and co.

Mini Scorecard:

New Zealand 1st innings 404/8
Daniel Vettori 99                 Mohammed Asif 3/98
Ross Taylor 94                    Mohammed Aamer 2/87
Brendon McCullum 78        Umar Gul 2/115,