Dubai: Riding on Hashim Amla’s fifth century of the year, South Africa posted a challenging 228 for 9 and registered a nail-biting two run win over Pakistan in the third One-day match of the Cool & Cool Cup at the Dubai Sports City International Cricket Stadium.
South Africa thus took a 2-1 lead after restricting Pakistan to 226 runs.
Fawad Alam through an unbeaten 59 runs off 67 balls almost guided Pakistan to victory He put on 33 runs in 2.4 overs with No.9 batsman Wahab Riaz (21) to pull the team close to victory.
An 85 runs partnership for the third wicket between opener Imran Farhat (47) and Asad Shafiq (43) too went in vain.
The destroyer of Pakistan’s hopes was Morne Morkel with a spell of 4 for 47.
It was another disappointing defeat for Pakistan team that has been struggling for form. Pakistan’s second one-day match hero Abdul Razzaq scored just 12 runs.
Chasing a run rate of 4.56 runs per over after Amla's unbeaten 119 runs which helped South Africa post a challenging total, Pakistan lost an early wicket when South Africa’s emerging left-arm pacer Lonwabo Tsotsobe bowled a slower delivery to induce Mohammad Hafeez to spoon an easy catch to Johan Botha in the covers. Their star batsman Younis Khan too quickly followed for a duck. Morne Morkel took the prize wicket by forcing Khan to edge to the slips. The first 15 overs produced just 37 runs.
After Farhat-Sadiq’s 85 runs partnership, all eyes fell on their skipper Shahid Afridi to play a whirlwind knock. He scored just five runs to give Morkel his second wicket.
Earlier, Amla displayed his magnificent form at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday. It was his fifth century of this year. His incredible form had commenced from May this year a century against West Indies in Antigua. This was his sixth One-day century and looks poised for more.
From the 13 innings this year Amla has piled up 986 runs. But for Amla’s unbeaten 119 off 126 balls studded with nine boundaries, South Africa could not have posted the challenging total 228 for 9 in 50 overs.
Amla is the first South African of Indian descent to reach the national team. His grand parents had migrated from Gujarat and came to prominence hitting four centuries form his first eight innings of the 2005 domestic season. A devout Muslim, he had once removed the logs promoting alcohol from his playing gear.
Tuesday he batted fearlessly despite Shoaib Akhtar bowling at his best to bag three wickets. The Dubai International Cricket Stadium produced its usual drama and a large crowd, despite being a working day turned up to watch the action.
Akhtar once again showed what a deadly bowler he can be with the new ball. Though many have written him off, the pace he can still generate is deadly.
Jacques Kallis, one of the finest batsmen in the game, was beaten by his slow cutter to be clean bowled for a duck. It was great to see Akhtar raise his arms up as if he had conquered the mighty.
Akhtar once again produced a beauty. This time he had the inform Colin Ingram caught and bowled and hurled the ball into the sky. Pakistan had always looked deadly whenever Akhtar had struck. Two wickets down for 15 runs in 4.4 overs was indeed a great start for Pakistan who had won the toss and elected to field.
The crowd enjoyed when he made the batsmen hop to his bouncers. Despite his mavericks he is still the crowd’s favourite.
Unfortunately for Akhtar, he got no support from the other end. AB de Villiers and Amla put on 42 runs for the third wicket. Hardly had the Akhtar drama ended when another began.
Skipper Shahid Afridi drew de Villiers out with a flighted delivery and had him stumped by wicket keeper Zulqarnain Haider. The television replay showed that de Villiers was well inside the crease when the bails were removed but television umpire Zameer Haider stunned everyone with his out verdict. Many at the ground felt that he unknowingly pressed the wrong button.
Mohammad Hafeez entered the stage with his elegant off spin maintaining a good line and length. He had Jean Paul Duminy caught behind while attempting to play square of the wicket. Next man David Miller got clean bowled to a beautiful quicker one from Hafeez.
Scoreboard
South Africa
Hashim Amla not out 119
J. Kallis b Akhtar 0
C. Ingram c and b Akhtar 4
AB de Villiers st Haider b Afridi 19
JP Duminy c Haider b Hafeez 26
D. Miller b Hafeez 6
A. Morkel c Hafeez b Afridi 19
J. Botha b Akhtar 15
M. Morkel c Alam b Riaz 2
R. Theron run out 5
Extras: (lb1, nb1, w11) 13
Total: (for nine wickets) 228
Did not bat: L. Tsotsobe
Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Kallis), 2-15 (Ingram), 3-57 (De Villiers), 4-116 (Duminy), 5-126 (Miller), 6-163 (A. Morkel), 7-201 (Botha), 8-211 (M. Morkel), 9-
Bowling: Akhtar 10-1-39-3 (1nb, 5w), Razzaq 5-1-19-0, Riaz 10-1-46-1 (2w), Ajmal 6-0-36-0, Afridi 10-0-53-2 (3w), Hafeez 9-0-34-2 (1w)
Overs: 50
Pakistan:
Imran Farhat run out 47
Mohammad Hafeez c Botha b Tsotsobe 4
Younis Khan c Botha b M. Morkel 0
Asad Shafiq run out 43
Shahid Afridi c de Villiers b M. Morkel 7
Fawad Alam not out 59
Abdul Razzaq c de Villiers b Kallis 12
Zulqarnain Haider c Amla b M. Morkel 11
Wahab Riaz c de Villiers b M. Morkel 21
Saeed Ajmal c de Villiers b Theron 2
Shoaib Akhtar not out 1
Extras: (lb13, nb 1, w5) 19
Total: (for nine wickets) 226
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Hafeez), 2-13 (Younis), 3-98 (Farhat), 4-108 (Afridi), 5-121 (Shafiq), 6-148 (Razzaq), 7-176 (Haider), 8-209 (Riaz), 9-225 (Ajmal)
Bowling: M. Morkel 10-1-47-4 (1w), Tsotsobe 10-1-28-1 (2w), Kallis 7-0-30-1 (1w), Theron 8-0-49-1 (1nb), Botha 10-0-42-0, Duminy 5-0-17-0 (1w)
Overs: 50
Toss: Pakistan
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Rodney Tucker (AUS)
Tv Umpire: Zameer Haider (PAK)
Match Referee: Andrew Pycroft (ZIM)
