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HAMILTON (New Zealand): Pakistan’s formidable bowling attack will be bolstered by the expected return of Shoaib Akhtar for the second Test against New Zealand here Friday, with New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming saying the outcome could be decided in his team’s first two hours at the crease.

The Blacks received a huge wake-up call in the first Test in Hamilton when they amassed 563 in their first innings and then collapsed to 52 for seven then 96 for eight in the second before bad light and rain ensured a draw.

Mohammad Sami was almost unplayable as he reached speeds of up to 154 kilometres an hour and finished with five for 44 of 16 overs. Umar Gul was an able lieutenant and at one stage was sitting on a hattrick after clean bowling Chris Cairns first ball.

Akhtar missed the first Test through injury but if he passes a fitness Test before Friday it will add to the pressure on New Zealand.

“No doubt about it, the first two hours we bat against them in this next test is going to be very important,” Fleming said.

“Shoaib hasn’t had a lot of overs so the more we deny them the better chance we’ve got of posting a big score again.”

There were mixed messages from the Pakistan camp about Akhtar.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq pronounced the Rawalpindi Express ready to return after recovering from hamstring and calf strains saying the team doctor had given him the all-clear, but coach Javed Miandad wasn’t so bullish.

“I can’t say at the moment but he’s working hard ... and we have to see, it depends how he goes,” Miandad said.

New Zealand may have taken the honours on the first three days of the first Test but in the second innings Sami ripped the New Zealand top order apart and threatened to engineer a win for Pakistan, with his victims including Fleming caught behind for a duck.

New Zealand’s bowlers, Daryl Tuffey aside, were solid if unspectacular in Hamilton. With a little luck they could have forced a Pakistan follow-on but instead Moin Khan slayed his way to 137 and the match turned.

For the second Test they have added a second spinner, Paul Wiseman, to the squad after the Basin Reserve wicket took spin in a provincial match earlier this month.