AB de Villiers scores a captain’s knock for South Africa

Sharjah: Having already won the one-day international series against Pakistan 3-1, South Africa skipper AB de Villiers came to the party in the final match with an unbeaten knock of 115 off 102 deliveries on Monday.

His performance on a slow and spin-friendly Sharjah track helped set Pakistan a daunting total of 269 for victory.

Such was the onslaught towards the end of the South Africa innings that the 50th over bowled by Sohail Tanvir read 4, 3, 4, 6, 4, 4.

De Villiers’ century was studded with 10 boundaries and three sixes and he was also involved in a crucial partnership of 83 runs for the sixth wicket with Ryan McLaren (27). Considering that the Proteas hit only 114 in the first 30 overs, it was a great effort from the skipper to see his side to a challenging total of 268 for 7.

Tanvir’s bowling figures painted a sorry picture in the end: 8-0-58-0. For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal emerged as the best bowler with 3 for 45. Junaid Khan claimed two wickets, while Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Hafeez had one apiece.

Earlier, South Africa chose to rest their frontline bowlers, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, who made way for Wayne Parnell and Vernon Philander, while Robin Peterson came in for Imran Tahir. However, Pakistan opted for only one change: Umar Amin in for Asad Shafiq. The team management’s ploy to continue with Irfan is rather bizarre considering that the injury-prone speedster has been clearly over-used and has already bowled over 110 overs, including the recent two Tests. With a T20 series to follow and the return series against South Africa lined up, pushing Irfan to breaking point appears an unwise decision.

Lady luck has been cruel on Misbah-ul-Haq as he lost his fourth successive toss in the series yesterday. A frustrated skipper could not resist saying: “I think both sides of the coin are heads. We needed to bat first, especially under the lights.”

Irfan provided Pakistan with an early breakthrough by claiming the key wicket of Hashim Amla, who was out leg-before for three from the fifth ball of the day.

South Africa’s centurion in the last match, Quinton de Kock, continued where he had left, the 20-year-old hammering four boundaries on the trot off Irfan’s third over. The first one went from front of square, the second through mid-on, the third to the fine-leg fence and the fourth almost identical to the third but with the ball missing his leg stump by inches.

A fluent-looking De Kock (35) fell leg-before to spinner Ajmal and, two overs later, JP Duminy handed a simple catch to Ahmad Shehzad at silly mid-on off Hafeez.

Faf du Plessis and de Villiers then batted cautiously and put up a partnership of 62 runs for the fourth wicket. A watchful du Plessis made a handy 45 off 89 deliveries before finding Sohail Tanvir at deep square leg off Khan, who had been ineffective until then.

Ajmal then induced a tame return catch from David Miller to leave South Africa in a spot of bother at 150 for 5 after 39 overs. De Villiers then took charge and reached his 50 with a six off Ajmal over mid-wicket and thereafter was on a roll, with South Africa scoring a total of 104 runs in the last 10 overs.