South Africa contained to 238, Pakistan on top
After levelling the series 1-1, following a ballistic innings played by Abdul Razzaq, Pakistan looked to continue their psychological advantage over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 after the bowlers struck early on in the South African innings. Winning the toss and deciding to bowl South Africa opened their innings with Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis. The pitch seemed to have some grass on it and helped the bowlers put some pressure on the South African batsmen. As a result Jacques Kallis succumbed to a beautiful slower delivery bowled by Shoaib Akhtar that went on to hit the stumps.
Despite the team going through tumultuous times, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 managed to leave aside the controversies off the field as they battled on it. Akhtar led the bowling attack with an energetic and rather disciplined performance. After the dismissal of Jacques Kallis, South Africa looked rather tentative at 9 for 1. Colin Ingram joined the field with Hashim Amla; however, he could not repeat his heroics from the previous match as he misjudged a slower delivery by the Rawalpindi express to hit it straight into the bowler's hands.
Amla however looked in good shape and helped to steady the South African batting line up with little support from other batsmen. Abdul Razzaq also bowled well with the new ball and was very economical. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482. De Villiers was rather unlucky in the fashion that he had to leave for he was not out.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JP-Duminy-c1742 then joined Hashim Amla to contribute a well fought for 26 runs. Mohammad Hafeez has been in tremendous form and has come in handy for Pakistan with the ball. He managed to restrict the flow of runs and then soon after took the all important wicket of Duminy, who scored a 50 in the last match. Miller came to bat soon after as South Africa struggled at 116 for 4. He left soon after scoring only 6 runs as he was undone by the in- form Mohammad Hafeez.
Hashim Amla seemed to defy nature as he proved to be unassailable to lead his team to a rather decent total. The lower order could not contribute much as well, since Morkel and Botha could only contribute 34 runs to the South African total. The replenished Pakistan side put on a tremendous bowling display and their fielding was commendable as they managed to restrict the South African’s to a rather unimpressive 228 for 9.
It was refreshing to see the senior players, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar leading from the front as they collectively took 5 wickets. Shoaib Akhtar was absolutely spot-on and despite the shortened run up and a limp he managed to rattle the South African batting.
Hashim Amla was truly inspiring with the way he played to score the 5th century in a calendar year and this was also his 5th ton in 13 innings played. Amla is in destructive form this year and we will certainly look forward to see more of him. While Pakistan is a completely different side following the heroics of Abdul Razzaq, let us just hope that they can work as a unit to undo the Proteas.
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