Domination but no elation for New Zealand

New Zealand experienced their first total domination of a day's play in the ongoing series against Pakistan on the second day of the third and final Test at Sharjah. Yet the side was not in any mood to celebrate or share their thoughts at the end of the day's play. The shadow of the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes still loomed large at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, especially in the New Zealand dressing room.

"There is certainly no elation in there," said New Zealand coach Mike Hesson.

New Zealand had two outstanding individual performances during the day in Mark Craig's career-best 7 for 94 and captain Brendon McCullum's unbeaten 153 off just 145 balls. But it was Hesson who stepped forward to speak to the media at the end of the day's play.

Hesson read out a statement on behalf of the New Zealand squad remembering Hughes and then spoke about how looking after each other became the theme of the day.

"Everybody in our team and management is affected. Some very deeply affected. Today wasn't about cricket. Today was about supporting one of our fellow players and the players really struggled. There is no doubt about that. I think the key for us was just helping the individuals in the group.

"We were just trying to get through the day to be fair. Just trying to get through the first session and helping each other get through it. And then we just moved onto the next one. We didn't think too far ahead. We weren't really conscious of performance today. We just were worried about looking after each other."

The very fact that the second day's play got underway was a tribute to the effort put in behind the scenes to ensure the Test runs its course. Hesson did not confirm whether they contemplated pulling out of the Test, but conceded that there were discussions on that count.

"Look there were a lot of discussions and lot of discussions took place regarding the Test match continuing," Hesson said. "This morning the Test match was continuing, we knew that. So we turned up, we were aware of that. And as I said, we just worked on helping each other get through the day."

New Zealand players did their bit before play started by joining in the global #putoutyourbats campaign. They hung their caps on their bats as a mark of respect for Hughes just outside their dressing room. The players even wrote the initials of Hughes on their shirts.

The New Zealand players looked listless during the morning session even as Pakistan lost their final seven wickets for 70 runs. There was hardly a moment of celebration from the New Zealand camp except a few handshakes.

Indeed, except when Craig led the side off the field following the end of Pakistan's innings, the New Zealand camp did not show any visible emotion. "Oh look the game was irrelevant at that stage and still is," Hesson said. "I mean you know that was just a natural reaction by a group of people whose mind was elsewhere."

The fact that Hughes was still on New Zealand's minds was evident from the fact that despite having fielders positioned for the short ball, there was not a single bouncer bowled in the first session.

"You know we didn't have anyone under the lid today, no one fielded with the helmet on. We didn't bowl a bouncer all day. You know that was just one of the things to do ... show some respect."

For New Zealand, the performances of the day paled into insignificance in comparison to the tragedy that occurred in Australia. In the words of Hesson the squad "haven't even thought about'' the course the final Test will take.

Most New Zealand players have played with or against Hughes so the grief in some ways a lot more personal. But no one was more affected than McCullum who had opened the batting with Hughes for New South Wales.

As the crowd swelled on what was a public holiday on Friday, the excitement at the way McCullum batted increased. A decent sized crowd enjoyed the cricket even as the man himself went through what was a very difficult phase.

"He was going through a range of emotions out there and certainly showed the character of the man to play the way he did. Just the way he has controlled himself as a captain and as a player today is something we are all very proud of."

But it was not just the New Zealand camp which was affected. Even the Pakistan side experienced similar emotions. Pakistan's top scorer Mohammad Hafeez summed it up when he said that his "mind was not there" as he fell three runs short of a well-deserved double hundred.

"I really want to dedicate my highest Test innings to Phil Hughes because he is one of our family member, when it comes to cricket we all play as a family," Hafeez said. "I really want to dedicate this innings to Phil Hughes."