Amply demonstrating the old truth that great fast bowlers win Test matches – and one-day series – Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis rampaged through New Zealand in February and March of 1994, compensating for the inadequacies of their support troops and the all-round failings of Pakistan's fieldsmen. But the series raised fresh hope for New Zealand, too. At Christchurch, Pakistan looked like making a clean sweep of the Test series, having left a target of 324, more than New Zealand had ever made to win a Test. But Bryan Young and Shane Thomson rose to the challenge. Both scored maiden Test hundreds as they pulled off a most unexpected victory. The one-day games followed a similar course: Pakistan won the first three but the fourth was tied and New Zealand revived morale by taking the fifth.

Young had decided, after much soul-searching, to give up wicket-keeping a year earlier; having gone to Australia as the extra batsman, he was called on to open because of Greatbatch's disastrous loss of form. His patient century in the Third Test was a revelation to his warmest admirers and triumphant justification of his change of direction. Thomson, his Northern Districts colleague, is a natural cricketer, a fluent and adventurous strokemaker. He had played four Tests for an average of 40.33 but never a complete series before this, an indictment of recent New Zealand selection panels.

But New Zealand's top order remained an acute worry. They had lost John Wright before the season opened and Martin Crowe, invalided home from Perth for knee surgery in November, was not mending as soon as he had hoped. Andrew Jones, their steadiest batsman during this series, announced his retirement at its conclusion (later rescinded). All-rounder Chris Cairns appeared only once against the tourists, doubting his own fitness after injury. The inability to get a start was the biggest failure; ten times in 20 Test innings, from Australia in November to England in July, New Zealand's first wicket fell before the score passed three, and four times there were no runs on the board.

The selection of the touring party had launched a major row in Pakistan, initially in protest at Javed Miandad's omission but soon turning to objections to the domineering captaincy of Wasim. After a mutiny led by Waqar, his vice-captain, both were replaced, with Salim Malik leading the team and Asif Mujtaba deputising, though there was no change to the original selection of players. Despite this tumult before their arrival, the tour was unexpectedly harmonious, and the relief from leadership duties did Wasim no harm; he took 25 wickets and Waqar 18. The other bowlers managed ten between them. Though the batting was all too often unreliable, Basit Ali, who scored a maiden Test hundred at Christchurch, looked the natural successor to Miandad. There were also centuries for Saeed Anwar – resuming his Test career after a long run as a one-day player – Malik and Inzamam-ul-Haq during Pakistan's Second Test total of 548, one of the few occasions when batsmen on either side got on top of the bowling.

Apart from Wasim and Waqar, Pakistan enjoyed a clear superiority in the wicket-keeping of Rashid Latif, short and unobtrusive but reliable. He took 13 catches in the Test series, nine of them at Auckland. His New Zealand counterpart, Tony Blain, batted well but his keeping began to show the strain of playing 24 successive matches (eight Tests and 16 one-days) for New Zealand since March 1993. By the end of the one-day series, the selectors had recalled Adam Parore, whose injury in the Wellington nets 13 months earlier had given Blain his chance.

The Auckland Test was the first to feature a third-country umpire from the International Cricket Council's panel – Dickie Bird of England, in his 56th Test. (Previous schemes were arranged by the boards concerned.) But there was little controversy to trouble him; the players' attitude seemed good, which owed much to the management of Majid Khan; it also helped that the team coaches, Intikhab Alam and Geoff Howarth, had once been team-mates at Surrey. Outside the Tests, New Zealand Cricket again deprived all provinces of what were traditionally treasured encounters with the tourists. Instead they fielded conglomerations of players, who interested the national selectors in some capacity or other. But such matches lack competitive interest and the public stayed away in droves.

PAKISTANI TOURING PARTY

Tour manager: Intikhab Alam.

Team manager: Majid Khan.

PAKISTANI TOUR RESULTS

First-class matches – Played 5: Won 2, Lost 1, Drawn 2.

Wins – New Zealand (2).

Loss – New Zealand.

Draws – New Zealand XI, New Zealand Emerging Players.

One-day internationals – Played 5: Won 3, Lost 1, Tied 1.

Other non first-class match – Won v Sir Ron Brierley's XI.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd