Two days after one of the most sensational wins in Test cricket, New Zealand are preparing in Dubai for the second Test against Pakistan with coach Gary Stead expecting an even tougher contest.
New Zealand pulled off an extraordinary four-run win in Abu Dhabi on Monday as they defended a modest target of 176. Debutant left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel took 5-59 as Pakistan's last seven wickets fell for just 41 runs.
It was the fifth tightest win in terms of runs in the 141-year history of Test cricket.
The win was Stead's first as coach since he replaced Mike Hesson in August and he believes it will change Pakistan's mindset ahead of the second Test which starts on Saturday.
"Pakistan are a good team, hard to beat over here," Stead said. "That's what makes this really, really pleasing. But they'll be better for it, and if they were taking us lightly, they won't be now.
"I expect them to be better and I expect us to be better as well."
New Zealand have not beaten Pakistan in an away series since 1969 and Stead thinks they need further improvement in order to change that.
"I don't think we've won too many Tests when we've scored 153 in the first innings," said Stead of New Zealand's first innings total.
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"It was always going to be that we need to keep fighting and fighting, and my message to the boys was that if you can lose wickets in clumps, then why can't we do that back to them through sustained pressure,” Stead said.
Fast bowler Neil Wagner, who became the eighth New Zealand bowler to complete 150 Test wickets in Abu Dhabi, praised the team's spirit.
"It was an amazing fightback," Wagner said. "We knew we'd be in with a chance if we kept fighting. That last hour [on Day 4] was quite freakish."
Wagner broke the dangerous stand of 82 between Azhar Ali (65) and Asad Shafiq (45) and then claimed Yasir Shah's wicket to play his role.
"We know that even if we are a little bit behind we can keep fighting, we know what we can achieve. It was bloody tough, hard work, a big fight and it will just get harder. [Pakistan] will come back hard.
"Hopefully we can do something similar and pretty special."
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Wagner's two wickets in the final innings were put in the shade by Patel whose five-wicket haul landed him the man of the match award in his first Test.
"It was pretty awesome to see a guy like Patel come in in his first Test," Wagner said of the 30-year-old India-born spinner.
"It took me about eight Tests to have my first win, so to play a special part in a win, see a smile on his face, was a cool moment."
The second Test starts in Dubai from Saturday while the third and final, again in Abu Dhabi from December 3.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
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If you go
Flight connections to Ulaanbaatar are available through a variety of hubs, including Seoul and Beijing, with airlines including Mongolian Airlines and Korean Air. While some nationalities, such as Americans, don’t need a tourist visa for Mongolia, others, including UAE citizens, can obtain a visa on arrival, while others including UK citizens, need to obtain a visa in advance. Contact the Mongolian Embassy in the UAE for more information.
Nomadic Road offers expedition-style trips to Mongolia in January and August, and other destinations during most other months. Its nine-day August 2020 Mongolia trip will cost from $5,250 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, two nights’ hotel accommodation in Ulaanbaatar, vehicle rental, fuel, third party vehicle liability insurance, the services of a guide and support team, accommodation, food and entrance fees; nomadicroad.com
A fully guided three-day, two-night itinerary at Three Camel Lodge costs from $2,420 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, accommodation, meals and excursions including the Yol Valley and Flaming Cliffs. A return internal flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad costs $300 per person and the flight takes 90 minutes each way; threecamellodge.com
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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