Disciplined Pakistan down South Africa

Pakistan produced disciplined cricket to upstage South Africa by six wickets in the third day-night international here on Tuesday, to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Rao Iftikhar made a career-best 3-33 and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi 3-37 to restrict the tourists to 197 all out.

Mohammad Yousuf then hit an unbeaten snail-paced 58 off 113 balls to help Pakistan reach 202-4 in 48.1 overs. Yousuf added an invaluable 79 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Shoaib Malik (42) to set up the victory. Yousuf hit just one boundary in his 104-ball half-century but stayed until the victory was achieved.

It followed a contrasting cameo by Afridi who enthralled a packed 16,000 crowd at Iqbal Stadium with a rapidfire 32. Afridi gave Pakistan a fiery start as he hit two sixes and four boundaries in his 18-ball knock before Pakistan lost three quick wickets.

Afridi’s ferocious shot off Shaun Pollock was well held at mid-off by Smith before Yasir Hameed (18) fell to Makhaya Ntini and Younis Khan (10) was caught behind off Albie Morkel. Morkel also broke the Malik-Yousuf stand but with only 51 needed for victory it was too late as Misbah-ul Haq (29 not out) helped Yousuf to complete the formality.

SOUTH AFRICA
H. Gibbs c Akmal b Gul			 19
G. Smith run out			 48
J. Kallis c Haq b Afridi		 13
AB de Villiers c Afridi b Iftikhar	 17
J. Kemp b Afridi			 42
M. Boucher c Malik b Rehman		 17
A. Morkel c sub (Nazir) b Iftikhar	 12
S. Pollock c and b Afridi		  1
J. Botha not out			  7
C. Langeveldt b Iftikhar		  4
M. Ntini b Gul				  0
EXTRAS: (lb8, w9)			 17
TOTAL:					197

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-43 (Gibbs), 2-57 (Kallis), 3-77 (De Villiers), 
4-122 (Smith), 5-162 (Kemp), 6-174 (Boucher), 7-181 (Pollock), 
8-189 (Morkel), 9-196 (Langeveldt)
BOWLING: Gul 8.2-3-25-2, Tanveer 9-0-36-0, Afridi 10-0-37-3,
Iftikhar 8-0-33-3, Rehman 10-0-42-1, Malik 4-0-16-0
Overs: 49.2

PAKISTAN

Yasir Hameed c Kallis b Ntini		 18
Shahid Afridi c Smith b Pollock		 32
Younis Khan c Botha b Morkel		 10
Mohammad Yousuf not out			 58
Shoaib Malik c Boucher b Morkel		 42
Misbah-ul Haq not out			 29
EXTRAS: (lb5, nb1, w7)			 13
TOTAL: (for four wickets)		202

DID NOT BAT: Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanveer, Abdul Rehman, Rao Iftikhar, Umar Gul.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-42 (Afridi), 2-58 (Hameed), 3-68 (Younis), 4-147 (Malik)
BOWLING: Pollock 10-0-44-1, Ntini 6-0-23-1, Langeveldt 5-0-20-0, 
Morkel 9.1-2-30-2, Botha 10-0-50-0, Kallis 8-1-30-0
Overs: 48.1

AISALABAD,Tuesday, AFP