First Test, Dunedin, day one (close): New Zealand 276-6 v Pakistan
Starts: Monday, 23 November at 2300 GMT
**Coverage: ** Regular score updates plus daily reports on BBC Sport website
**Seam bowler Mohammad Asif marked his return to Test cricket with three wickets as Pakistan restricted New Zealand to 276-6 on day one in Dunedin.**Asif, playing his first Test for two years because of injuries and drugs controversies, took 3-76.
And it could have been even better for the tourists if they had not dropped three catches.
Ross Taylor made 94 for the Kiwis but missed out on a century when he was caught at slip off spinner Saeed Ajmal.
Daniel Vettori (40) and Brendan McCullum (25) batted out the final 17 overs to the close, but the home side benefitted from the Umpire Decision Review System (URDS) in force for the three-match series.
The system enables players to ask for any decision made by the on-field umpires to be reviewed, but teams are, however, only permitted to make two unsuccessful review requests per innings.
Vettori was adjudged lbw by on-field umpire Simon Taufel off the penultimate ball of the day, bowled by Asif, but challenged the decision and it was reversed after video replays had been scrutinised.
There was genuine relief in the home dressing room after a day which began badly when Tim McIntosh was bowled by the first delivery of the match, a swinging yorker from 17-year-old Mohammad Aamir.
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Having been put in by Pakistan skipper Mohammad Yousuf, the Kiwis suffered a second setback when Daniel Flynn was caught behind off the inside edge for eight to become Asif’s first victim.
Martin Guptill was dropped twice on 26, at first slip by Imran Farhat off Umar Gul and then by Gul himself on the fine-leg boundary.
The opener made the most of the double let-off as he and Taylor rebuilt the innings with a stand of 117.
The URDS was used for the first time in the 41st over when Billy Doctrove’s decision to turn down an lbw appeal against Taylor was upheld by the TV umpire.
But Pakistan did not have long to wait for a breakthrough as Guptill, on 60, tried to hook a bouncer from Aamir and was caught by Fawad Alam, running back at square leg.
Taylor was next to go with the score on 192 when, after hitting a six and 13 fours, he attempted to drive Ajmal and Farhat atoned for his earlier error by taking the chance.
Peter Fulton followed for 29 when he was bowled by Asif, who then had Grant Elliott caught behind in his next over.
Vettori should have departed for a first-ball duck when Asif found the edge of his bat but Farhat was found wanting once again as he failed to hang on to a low chance.