Tuffey satisfied with Test return

Tuffey satisfied with Test return

Daryl Tuffey shook off the nerves to claim two wickets for 32 on his Test comeback as he helped New Zealand restrict Pakistan to 161/6.

Tuffey marked his return after a five-year hiatus with two wickets in the final session at the Basin Reserve after coming in for the injured Shane Bond.

"I was feeling really happy after the first 10 overs. I was happy with the way I was progressing because I was nervous going into the game because I hadn't played a Test for a while," said the 31-year-old.

"Once I got the first spell out of the way I was back into the groove and it feels good to be back.

"It was disappointing to have my good mate Shane Bond out injured - I would have loved to play a game with him - but his demise is my opportunity to play."

Tuffey made his breakthrough with the key wicket of first Test hero Umar Akmal when the youngster edged onto his stumps four runs shy of a second successive fifty.

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The Black Caps bowler added: "I haven't taken a Test wicket since the second Test in England in 2004. When I saw the bails flick off it was a great relief to get one.

"I thought I'd been bowling quite well leading up to that but obviously there's a big job to do bowling into the wind with Dan (Vettori)."

Tuffey said New Zealand's aim on day two would be to restrict Pakistan to under 200.

"We can do that by keeping pretty disciplined tomorrow. It's obviously a big job for the guys bowling into the wind but it's an even bigger job for guys bowling down wind to not release the pressure and get carried away," he added.

"We're at the start of the tail now (Mohammad) Aamer's in and Umar Gul is coming in but you have to still bowl sensibly because these guys can get away. We've seen the shots they do play. We want to restrict them."

When play began after a delay of two hours 10 minutes, Pakistan made steady progress with the opening pair of Salman Butt, in for Khurram Manzoor, and Imran Farhat putting on 60 runs for the first wicket.

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But aside from that and the 53-run stand between Umar and Misbah-ul-Haq (21) Pakistan failed to get any other partnerships going as Butt, Farhat and Mohammed Yousuf fell in quick succession.

Tuffey then dismissed Shoaib Malik, who played a loose shot, four overs after bowling Umar, who was promoted to number three.

"I think we've seen a few loose shots from them," added Tuffey.

"In the last Test and even today when they were losing wickets they were still playing the odd flamboyant shot outside off stump.

"We saw Misbah get out as well to a big hoick. That's the way they play and if we bowl enough balls in the right area these things will happen and these guys will get out."

Farhat, who was one of three Dan Vettori wickets when he sent one straight to Ross Taylor in the slips on 32, felt Pakistan were still in a reasonable position.

"The score at the moment is not bad if you look at the conditions. If we score another 100 runs it will be good because our bowling side is very good," said opener Farhat.

"We're still positive. We have to keep fighting. We believe that we have a good bowling attack in (Mohammad) Asif, Umar Gul, Aamer and we've got (leg spinner) Danish Kaneria playing as well and there will be a lot for him here."


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