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Pakistan v S. Africa Day 5

Wednesday, October 29 2003

Pakistan v South Africa, Faisalabad, Day 5

Chasing a victory target of 302 in order to round off a 2-0 series win against South Africa following a generous declaration by the visitors, Pakistan started the final day with Taufeeq Umar on 6 and first innings centurion Imran Farhat undefeated on a single.

It soon became apparent that the home team's first priority was understandably to not lose the contest - on a fairly flat pitch, Taufeeq and Imran scored at less than one run per over in the first hour of play. Jacques Kallis removed a static Imran Farhat leg before for 8 without the batsman offering a shot, an inert innings which lasted fully an hour and a half without a boundary, as Pakistan's first wicket went down with just 18 on the board in the 20th over.

The entry of Yasir Hameed into the proceedings raised some hopes of a little more action as he found the fence on three occasions including one breathtaking straight drive to get off the mark, but when he pulled a short delivery from Makhaya Ntini to Botha Dippenaar at deep backward square leg for 17, the safety-first approach came to the fore once more, so much so that the opening session realised a mere 55 tortuous runs from 30 overs.

Captain Inzamam ul-Haq and Taufeeq Umar accelerated the scoring rate somewhat in the afternoon session as South African captain Graeme Smith rotated his bowlers, but it was generally the case of waiting for the frequent poor delivery from the spinners and whacking it as opposed to taking any chances whatsoever.

Both batsmen had a life - Taufeeq was dropped by Mark Boucher and Inzamam by Herschelle Gibbs - but by and large Pakistan seemed to be in little difficulty throughout the afternoon session, so it came as something of a surprise when Taufeeq Umar on 71 was undone by Robin Peterson, lofting the slow left-armewr straight to Graeme Smith at mid-on with the total on 125.

With Inzamam growing in confidence, playing some lovely drives through the off side, it seemed possible that an unlikely victory was just possible given further acceleration during the final session. Asim Kamal (38) played with a flourish on either side of the tea interval until he edged Paul Adams to Mark Boucher leaving Pakistan on 187-4, then the new ball brought immediate rewards for the tourists.

A dreadful error of judgment by Inzamam (60), shouldering arms to an inswinger by Ntini with the total on 209 offered some encouragement to South Africa, then in the following over when Abdul Razzaq was bowled by the miserly Pollock for 10 without further addition, a highly charged final hour seemed in prospect.

If Gary Kirsten had succeeded in grasping a chance offered by Shoaib Malik the South Africans might yet have grasped victory, but in the end Malik and Moin Khan held on to the close to give Pakistan a draw and a 1-0 series victory.

Close of play summary

South Africa 278 (Gibbs 98, Kirsten 54, Shabbir Ahmed 4-74)
and 371-8 dcl (Kirsten 118, Smith 65, Abdul Razzaq 3-70)
drew with
Pakistan 348 (Imran Farhat 128, Taufeeq Umar 68, Pollock 6-78)
and 242-6 (Taufeeq Umar 71, Inzamam ul-Haq 60, Ntini 2-45)

Pakistan win the series 1-0


Posted by Eddie