South Africa survived a brutal knock by Shahid Afridi to take a 2-1 lead in the 5 match ODI series between Pakistan and South Africa. AB de Villiers & Hashim Amla had a record breaking partnership to set up the win.

Toss:
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl

Teams:

Pakistan
Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan,Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal†, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan


South Africa
GC Smith, HM Amla, CA Ingram, AB de Villiers, F du Plessis, F Behardien, R McLaren, RJ Peterson, , RK Kleinveldt , LL Tsotsobe, DW Steyn


South African innings


Victory in the second match meant that Pakistan were on a high before the third ODI in Johannesburg. They made the decision to drop Gul and pick Wahab for the first time in almost a year.

Pakistani pacemen got off to a supreme start, suppressing the South African batsmen early on with Irfan picking up the wicket of Smith. 
Amla was given LBW only for the decision to be overturned on review.

The pacers bowled with good control to restrict South Africa to just 26 in the first ten overs, and Ingram was the next man to fall victim to Irfan's bounce edging one to the keeper. Disaster struck in Wahab's fifth over when Amla was dropped twice. Firstly by Hafeez at backward point making a mess of a simple chance, secondly by Akmal not able to catch an inside edge.

Amla made Pakistan pay heavily for these drops. Coming together with AB Devillers the two managed to milk the spinners easily rotating the strike and making sure the run rate never slowed down. Pakistan looked under pressure with the bowlers looking ineffective against the pair. 

The pair started to score freely in the powerplay overs. Hafeez going for successive sixes and Wahab bowling erratically in their overs. Both batsmen reached their centuries in quick time to give South Africa a fantastic platform to score in excess of 300 with wickets in hand.

Pakistani spinners continued bowling short and the batsmen kept cashing in hitting boundaries seemingly at will. The pair eventually reached the record for the highest third wicket partnership beating Dravid and Tendulkar against Kenya.

Amla was out for 122 on the next ball trying to go over extra cover. AB followed soon after trying to slog sweep but the damage had already been done as South Africa reached 301/3.

Wahab received plenty of punishment from Faf du Plessis in the next over going for 20 runs. The last partnership ensured that South Africa would reach a formidable total of 343.

Fall of wickets
1-4 (Smith, 2.6 ov)
2-42 (Ingram, 13.5 ov)
3-280 (Amla, 44.1 ov)
4-301 (de Villiers, 46.3 ov)
5-342 (du Plessis, 49.5 ov)

Pakistan innings

Pakistan were under extreme pressure as the openers came out to bat. Jamshed played some attractive strokes before tamely stroking the ball to mid off where Amla took a simple catch. 

Kamran and Hafeez however did not let the required run rate rocket. They played aggressively targeting the fast bowlers and making full use of the first powerplay. Hafeez in particular striking two successive sixes off Peterson.

The Pakistan innings would soon unravel however as Kamran departed trying to uppercut the ball but ended up edging it to the keeper. Hafeez was the next to go dancing down the pitch and hitting it straight to long off. Younis Khan soon followed under cutting a ball to the stumps.

It meant that the burden of scoring the remaining 220 runs would be left to Misbah, Malik and Afridi. Malik would soon depart being caught off a mistimed drive. This left Afridi and Misbah to shoulder the heavy burden of scoring the remaining runs.

Afridi caused some panic in the South African line up hitting consecutive sixes off Tsotsobe. Pakistan took the option of the batting powerplay in the 27th over, He continued hitting the ball to all parts of the ground scoring 50 off just 31 balls. Afridi needed support from the other end but Misbah disappointingly got out edging one to the keeper.

Afridi continued his assault, keeping Pakistani hopes alive and hitting the ball cleanly. He was bowled in the 35th over off what was deemed to be a no ball. He proceeded to smash the next ball out of the park. Afridi's run could unfortunately not be sustained as he was caught at long off trying to pull a low full toss.

Ajmal and Wahab formed a brief partnership with the latter hitting a few out of the park before Ajmal was caught at mid off. With 63 runs still needed. Wahab ended up playing a good cameo of 45 but it was too little too late as Pakistan lost by 34 runs.


Fall of wickets
1-15 (Nasir Jamshed, 3.6 ov)
2-97 (Kamran Akmal, 16.4 ov)
3-111 (Mohammad Hafeez, 19.4 ov)
4-123 (Younis Khan, 21.1 ov)
5-132 (Shoaib Malik, 24.3 ov)
6-203 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 32.3 ov)
7-244 (Shahid Afridi, 35.3 ov)
8-282 (Saeed Ajmal, 43.1 ov)
9-304 (Junaid Khan, 46.5 ov)
10-309 (Wahab Riaz, 48.1 ov)

Pakistan started bowling well but didn't sustain the pressure by dropping catches. Poor bowling from the spinners allowed easy passage for the batsmen. Amla and AB devilliers batted brilliantly to take South Africa's score to 343.

Pakistan started well after Jamshed departed but constant wickets meant that they could not sustain enough momentum to keep up with the run rate. Afridi played a rare knock which took the opposition apart. But too many runs meant that he could not take Pakistan home.

Pakistan now go into the fourth ODI 2-1 down. They must win the match at all costs to keep the series alive. Changes to the batting order will have to be considered if Pakistan are to be competitive.

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