New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan heaped praise on Tom Latham’s brilliant unbeaten century and called him a ‘special talent’.

Ton-up Tom Latham anchors New Zealand in second Test

The former New Zealand international was delighted with the way his batsmen responded after Brendon McCullum won the toss, and singled out Latham’s effort.

“This was something that we really needed at the top of the order. He has come through really good…excellent actually. It was a terrific knock,” said McMillan.

“He is a special talent and he has backed up his effort in the first Test. He is a player who is disciplined in his gameplan and his approach.

“He knows his key areas where he can hit the ball, and he defends soundly. I also thought his concentration throughout the day was very good.”

McMillan however cautioned his side that the first session today would be crucial, and added that the aim would be to reach 450.

“It was obviously an excellent day for us. To get to the end of the day with just three wickets down and one of your opening batsman still there on 130 odd has got to be a terrific day,” he said.

“We had partnerships all the way through, although we would have loved to get a couple of bigger partnerships.

“There were a couple of things we wanted to do differently from the first Test – like losing wickets in clumps and nullifying reverse swing – and we did that today.

“What we have done today is laid the platform, but I am sure Pakistan will come back hard at us tomorrow morning. We have build up on this.

“We know that first session tomorrow is going to be key. If we can get through that, we can hopefully put together 450-plus total and put them under the same pressure that they put us under in Abu Dhabi.”

Pakistan opener Shan Masood, who made his way into the team after the injury to Ahmed Shehzad, also echoed McMillan’s thoughts about the first session.

“We haven’t gotten away from the game yet. I thought we did well to restrict them to 240 odd for three. We would have been worried if they had reached 325 odd for three,” said Masood who took two catches yesterday.

“The ball is new now and we have to make it count tomorrow morning. We need to take some quick wickets early and then put the pressure back on them by batting well in the first innings.”