New Zealand completed an emotional innings-and-80-run victory over Pakistan to level their three-Test series in Sharjah.
Veteran spinner Daniel Vettori led the victorious Black Caps off, in what is likely to be the 35-year-old former captain’s final Test, which was played to the sombre backdrop of Phillip Hughes’ death.
The second day of the Test was postponed following the news of Hughes’ tragic passing, after he was struck in the neck by a ball while batting during a Sheffield Shield game in Sydney last week.
Both sets of players offered tributes to Hughes in the wake of the tragedy - both wore black armbands today on what would have been his 26th birthday - although New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum’s was most stark as he wore the Australia left-hander’s initials on his chest as he hit a game-turning double century.
That set the stage for New Zealand to rack up their highest Test score away from home as they were eventually bowled out for 690.
Man-of-the-match Mark Craig reached his half-century in today's morning session to help New Zealand to a 339-run lead and the spinner then completed a maiden 10-wicket match haul as Pakistan were bundled out for 259.
Pakistan had been set over five sessions to bat out for a draw which would clinch the series, but that quickly looked a forlorn hope as Trent Boult swept through the top order.
Boult removed Shan Masood, Azhar Ali and Younus Khan before they reached double figures as Pakistan - so prolific with the bat during the past month - crashed to 36 for four.
Craig also chipped in by accepting a return catch from first-innings centurion Mohammad Hafeez before finding skipper Misbah-ul-Haq’s glove en-route to wicketkeeper BJ Watling.
Pakistan slumped to 147 for seven by tea on the fourth day, which prompted Asad Shafiq to counter-attack with a stunning century from 123 balls.
New Zealand kept finding the required breakthroughs at the other end though and fittingly Vettori - recalled for the first time in over two years for this Test - joined in the wicket-taking when Mohammad Talha was trapped in front.
It was the 362nd wicket of Vettori’s 113-Test career, which began in 1997, and has taken him to second place behind Sir Richard Hadlee in New Zealand’s all-time wicket-taker’s list.
And the Black Caps had reason to believe they had a spinner capable of being his long-term replacement when the 27-year-old Craig completed his 10-wicket haul, and the series-levelling win, when McCullum held on to a top-edged Rahat Ali slop-sweep.
Pakistan's defeat meant that England moved back ahead of them to third place in the International Cricket Council's Test rankings, while New Zealand moved up a place to seventh.