HOUSTON, we no longer have a problem. That’s what SA will hope in the afterglow of their stirring victory over Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last night.
South Africa batted with authority and dug themselves out of a hole with the ball to win by 68 runs. That put them within another victory of clinching the series with two games left.
SA’s 259/8 was their highest total in their last 11 ODIs, and the first time in five matches in the format that they had not been dismissed. Then they dismissed Pakistan for 191 with a supremely confident Imran Tahir taking 4/53.
Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis put on 77 for SA’s second wicket before AB de Villiers and JP Duminy shared 70 for the fourth. Duminy and David Miller added 61 for the fifth.
Du Plessis’ 55 was his first half-century in 12 ODI innings. He looked especially good when he pulled and drove Wahab Riaz for consecutive fours. But he faced just six more balls before being stumped off Shahid Afridi’s googly.
In his previous over, Afridi had De Kock stumped. Those strikes might have sapped SA’s momentum had Duminy not shown impressive maturity in taking charge of the innings for the next 27 overs to score his 64.
And to think Graeme Smith had been ruled out for the rest of the series with post-concussion syndrome – the legacy of being hit on the temple by Mohammed Irfan 15 days ago during the second test in Dubai.
Yesterday, Irfan welcomed Hashim Amla back from paternity leave by nailing his off-stump with the 10th ball he faced.
Having got the job done with the bat, SA’s bowlers were promptly drilled for 50 runs, 40 of them in boundaries, in the first eight overs of Pakistan’s reply.
Seven of the 10 fours were hit by Ahmed Shehzad, and four of those came off Lonwabo Tsotsobe – who leaked 29 runs in his first spell of four overs.
Only when Dale Steyn was introduced in the seventh over did SA start reeling the Pakistanis in. Shehzad edged the first delivery of Steyn’s second over to Amla at slip.
However, Steyn, who was rested for the first two games of the series, left the field clutching a hamstring after bowling three overs. He returned to bowl five more overs, but someone else was going to have to take the fight to Pakistan’s batsmen.
Tsotsobe took up that challenge in the 14th over, when he began a brilliant second spell of 6-2-5-1 during the course of which he did not concede a run for 21 consecutive deliveries.
Tahir kept the pressure on from the other end – after, that is, he was hit for three fours in his first over. The leg-spinner took the key wickets of Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq to tear Pakistan’s batting to shreds.
Sohail Tanvir and Wahab breathed life back into Pakistan’s challenge with a stand of 61 off 70 balls for the eighth wicket. But Morne Morkel had Wahab caught behind in the 42nd over to begin the end.
Tahir spins his web as Proteas crush Pakistan
South Africa batted with authority and dug themselves out of a hole with the ball to win by 68 runs. That put them within another victory of clinching the series with two games left.
SA’s 259/8 was their highest total in their last 11 ODIs, and the first time in five matches in the format that they had not been dismissed. Then they dismissed Pakistan for 191 with a supremely confident Imran Tahir taking 4/53.
Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis put on 77 for SA’s second wicket before AB de Villiers and JP Duminy shared 70 for the fourth. Duminy and David Miller added 61 for the fifth.
Du Plessis’ 55 was his first half-century in 12 ODI innings. He looked especially good when he pulled and drove Wahab Riaz for consecutive fours. But he faced just six more balls before being stumped off Shahid Afridi’s googly.
In his previous over, Afridi had De Kock stumped. Those strikes might have sapped SA’s momentum had Duminy not shown impressive maturity in taking charge of the innings for the next 27 overs to score his 64.
And to think Graeme Smith had been ruled out for the rest of the series with post-concussion syndrome – the legacy of being hit on the temple by Mohammed Irfan 15 days ago during the second test in Dubai.
Yesterday, Irfan welcomed Hashim Amla back from paternity leave by nailing his off-stump with the 10th ball he faced.
Having got the job done with the bat, SA’s bowlers were promptly drilled for 50 runs, 40 of them in boundaries, in the first eight overs of Pakistan’s reply.
Seven of the 10 fours were hit by Ahmed Shehzad, and four of those came off Lonwabo Tsotsobe – who leaked 29 runs in his first spell of four overs.
Only when Dale Steyn was introduced in the seventh over did SA start reeling the Pakistanis in. Shehzad edged the first delivery of Steyn’s second over to Amla at slip.
However, Steyn, who was rested for the first two games of the series, left the field clutching a hamstring after bowling three overs. He returned to bowl five more overs, but someone else was going to have to take the fight to Pakistan’s batsmen.
Tsotsobe took up that challenge in the 14th over, when he began a brilliant second spell of 6-2-5-1 during the course of which he did not concede a run for 21 consecutive deliveries.
Tahir kept the pressure on from the other end – after, that is, he was hit for three fours in his first over. The leg-spinner took the key wickets of Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq to tear Pakistan’s batting to shreds.
Sohail Tanvir and Wahab breathed life back into Pakistan’s challenge with a stand of 61 off 70 balls for the eighth wicket. But Morne Morkel had Wahab caught behind in the 42nd over to begin the end.
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