Braveheart battlers cap it off

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Shane Bond and Iain O'Brien are being showered with praise after driving New Zealand to a rare test victory against Pakistan at a frenzied University Oval.

In his first test in two years, Bond claimed the man of the match award for his eight-wicket haul and O'Brien came up trumps on the final afternoon as New Zealand got home in a first-test thriller by 32 runs.

Both were in the wars, Bond (3-46) minus the big toenail on his left foot and O'Brien (3-63) with a dislocated finger on his right hand, but they shrugged off discomfort to produce Herculean efforts with ball.

Chasing 251 for victory, Pakistan were 165-5 at tea when New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori gathered his troops for the final time, tapped Bond and O'Brien each on the shoulder and said, "Give it everything boys."

At the crease were the Akmal brothers, who added 176 in a blink of the eye in the first innings. Vettori admitted he had his heart in his mouth. "It was about breaking that partnership. It wasn't to the end of that spell that we grabbed those wickets, then two in two overs and the belief came into the team about finishing it off.

"There was talk the whole way through about hanging in there, hanging in there, and putting the ball in the right areas because the pitch was little bit variable. You can't deny the spells by Iain and Shane, both bowling eight or nine overs in a row brought us into the game.

"To come down to the last session and it felt like there were 80,000 people out there [in fact, it was a very loud 2200] ... it was a great atmosphere and I think the game did it justice. It was almost the first thing we spoke about when we came off, what an amazing atmosphere."

Bond's return was nothing short of fairytale stuff. His eight wickets gave him 87 victims in 18 tests. "I'm pleased to come through especially being one of just four bowlers, it's the first time I've done that," Bond said. "You bowled a spell then someone else was on and then it's like `Christ, they're going to give me the ball again'."

O'Brien was wicketless for the test heading into the tea break, but struck once before and twice after and the crowd warmed to his courage after he dislocated a finger then reeled in pain as it was "corrected" by the medical staff.

"I saw the pain he was in when his eyes welled up, he must've been in agony," Vettori said. "So for him to do that and get a wicket in the next couple of overs, he just kept coming and it was a credit to the bowlers' fitness in general."

Vettori denied O'Brien's place had been in doubt for the test, despite a strong challenge from Daryl Tuffey.

- © Fairfax NZ News