A dominant South African performance gave the home side a 3-2 series win, to end the tour on a sour note for Pakistan.

Toss:
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl

Teams:



Pakistan

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


South Africa
Q de Kock, HM Amla, CA Ingram, AB de Villiers, DA Miller, F Behardien, R McLaren, RJ Peterson, , M Morkel , LL Tsotsobe, DW Steyn



Pakistan Innings



Since 2002 Pakistan hadn't won in a series decider in ODI's. This fact must have weighed heavily on their minds as they came into the final match of the series.


Pakistan started off their inning poorly with Hafeez and Farhat departing in the first powerplay. Hafeez edging the ball once again off his tormentor Steyn. Farhat was the next to go trying to play the cut shot but instead ended up edging it to the keeper.

Pakistan were struggling at 31/2 when Younus Khan came to the crease. Both he and Kamran Akmal got off to a decent start with Kamran being the aggressor of the two punishing Peterson in particular. They made a partnership of 50 before Kamran Akmal top edged a sweep shot off Peterson to get out on 48.

Younus Khan went soon after trying to pull a long hop from Behardien but instead ended was caught brilliantly by Amla at midwicket. At this stage Pakistan were set back 4 wickets down and a partnership was needed. Misbah and Malik made a decent partnership of 47 before Malik was caught softly trying to push the ball leg side.

Two balls later Afridi tried to pull the ball but sent it straight to the fielder at deep square leg just one ball before the powerplay.

The situation got worse as Misbah was out a few overs later edging the ball to the keeper. This meant that all of Pakistan's mainline batsmen were back in the dressing room and it was up to Pakistan's tail to salvage the situation.

Ajmal was bowled quickly, however, By Mclaren. Contributions from Junaid and Wahab meant that Pakistan managed to reach an under par total of 205.


Fall of wickets
1-11 (Mohammad Hafeez, 2.5 ov)
2-31 (Imran Farhat, 9.1 ov)
3-97 (Kamran Akmal, 23.4 ov)
4-104 (Younis Khan, 25.4 ov)
5-151 (Shoaib Malik, 34.3 ov)
6-151 (Shahid Afridi, 34.6 ov)
7-161 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 38.3 ov)
8-162 (Saeed Ajmal, 39.3 ov)
9-189 (Wahab Riaz, 46.1 ov)
10-205 (Junaid Khan, 49.1 ov)


South Africa Innings


It looked extremely tough for Pakistan defending a low total. They started off extremely well with Junaid getting De kock bowled early. 

Ingram was the next man to go trying to cut the ball against Hafeez but ended up getting bowled. 

Junaid was given an extended spell to try and get the wicket of AB who had batted extremely well throughout the series. It nearly worked as AB edged an outswinging delivery but a shocker of a drop from Younis Khan at first slip meant that he would be given another life.

Soon after Hashim Amla would be given a chance as well as Kamran missed a difficult stumping chance off off Ajmal. 

AB and Amla kept batting well till Amla mistimed a pull shot and scooped one in the air. Malik took the catch safely making sure to avoid a collision with the running batsmen. 

AB kept the momentum flowing at the other end reaching his half century in just 53 balls. It also meant that the required amount of runs was brought under 100. Behardien and AB then started batting aggressively hitting boundaries to ensure that South Africa would get close to the score comfortably.

In the 37th over Behardien top edged a delivery which was taken by Saeed Ajmal at deep fine leg but it was too little too late as South Africa got home with plenty of balls to spare, to take the series 3-2.

Fall of wickets 
1-12 (de Kock, 5.2 ov)
2-34 (Ingram, 10.5 ov)
3-83 (Amla, 22.4 ov)
4-170 (Behardien, 36.6 ov)

Pakistan got off to a poor start with the openers departing early, and the batsmen in the middle order got starts but with no one converting their starts to big scores it meant that South Africa were given a below par total of 206 to chase down.

The bowlers began well with De Kock and Ingram departing early but dropped catches and missed stumpings meant that South Africa would get home comfortably. The drop of AB de Villiers proved particularly crucial as his knock ended up winning the game for the Proteas.

Pakistan now play their next series against Scotland before the start of the Champions Trophy. Selectors will have to examine the performances and roles of key players in the Pakistani lineup, in particular some of the batsmen that performed so poorly in this series.

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