Raval and Williamson seal solid eight-wicket win

New Zealand 200 (Raval 55, Rahat 4-62) and 108 for 2 (Williamson 61) beat Pakistan 133 (Misbah 31, de Grandhomme 6-41) and 171 (Sohail 40, Wagner 3-34, Boult 3-37) by eight wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Debutant opener Jeet Raval batted with focus to overcome a testing period against the new ball and took New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory in Christchurch. He had his captain Kane Williamson, who made 61 off 77 balls, for company for most of the chase of 105 and hit the winning runs shortly after lunch to seal a 1-0 lead in the series.

Raval finished unbeaten on 36 to go with his first-innings 55, the highest score of the Test. New Zealand's other debutant, Colin de Grandhomme, was Man of the Match for taking seven wickets in the Test; his 6 for 41 in the first innings was a New Zealand record on debut.

What could have been a tricky chase had New Zealand lost early wickets on the fourth morning turned into a cruise as Raval and Williamson added 85 for the second wicket. Once the new ball had been dealt with, both batsmen were able to play shots, though Raval remained cautious while Williamson was more attacking. While runs had been difficult to come by on the second and third days, the pitch had eased out considerably on the fourth, with little seam, swing or spin on offer.

Williamson played firm cuts and delicate, late dabs before falling when the scores were level. Raval hit the winning runs by pulling Yasir Shah to the midwicket boundary as New Zealand ended a four-match losing streak. Yasir ended the match with figures of 0 for 61; his first wicketless Test after taking 116 in 19 matches.

That the match went into the second session was due to some adventurous lower-order batting from Pakistan in the first hour. Sohail Khan, who has only one half-century in 115 first-class innings, had begun throwing his bat around on the third evening, and he continued to do so first thing this morning by taking seven off the first two balls. When there was width, Sohail slashed, and when it was full, he drove, contributing 40 to an eighth-wicket stand of 53 with Asad Shafiq.

He was eventually caught pulling to backward square leg in the seventh over of the day, after Pakistan had added 29.

Shafiq, on 8, had survived a caught behind appeal while attempting an expansive drive off Neil Wagner. Though the appeal wasn't spontaneous, there was a sound as the ball passed the bat, but New Zealand couldn't refer the decision because they had no reviews left.

After Sohail's dismissal, Shafiq took his chances to get as many runs as possible and did not shield the tail. He was out pulling to Raval, who ran in from deep midwicket and dived forward to take the catch just before the ball hit the turf.

Rahat was the last man dismissed when he tamely lobbed a catch to short leg. Wagner, who had become the second-fastest New Zealand bowler to 100 Test wickets, finished with 3 for 34.