Toss: Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat.

Teams:

Pakistan: 1. Nasir Jamshed, 2. Ahmed Shehzad, 3.Mohammad Hafeez, 4. Sohaib Maqsood, 5. Misbah-ul-Haq(c), 6. Umar Akmal (wk), 7.Shahid Afridi, 8. Bilawal Bhatti, 9. Saeed Ajmal, 10. Junaid Khan, 11. Anwar Ali 

South Africa: 1.GC Smith, 2. HM Amla, 3. Q de Kock(wk), 4. JH Kallis, 5. AB de Villiers(c), 6. JP Duminy, 7. DA Miller, 8. VD Philander, 9. DW Steyn, 10. M Morkel, 11. Imran Tahir 

After squaring the T20I series, Pakistan and South commenced the first of three ODIs in Cape Town. Misbah Ul-Haq returned to lead Pakistan while debuts were handed out to Anwar Ali and the impressive Bilawal Bhutto. For South Africa, the big news was the return of Jacques Kallis after an extended period away from the limited overs team. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Pakistan’s openers, Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed, began in a very sedate fashion, looking to preserve their wicket rather than taking advantage of the fielding restrictions in the first 10 overs, resulting in a score of 31/0 after the first powerplay. The strategy eventually failed when Dale Steyn removed Nasir Jamshed as the batsman chased a wide delivery and and edged into Kallis’ safe hands at slip. Mohammad Hafeez’s troubles against Steyn continued when the South Africn quick produced a fantastic outswinger which took Hafeez’s edge and carried to Amla at slip.

The talented Sohaib Maqsood joined Ahmed Shehzad but Pakistan still struggled to up the scoring rate. Shehzad finally succumbed when he tamely edged Kallis through to the keeper, and Misbah-Ul-Haq was bounced out by Morne Morkel to leave Pakistan perilously placed at 97/4. It went from bad to worse as Umar Akmal fell for a third ball duck, yet another batman edging behind.

Shahid Afridi and Sohaib Maqsood began a recovery of sorts, pushing the singles well and Afridi looked in the mood when he mowed Kallis over the long on boundary. Maqsood looked to play a similar shot but only succeeded in finding Imran Tahir on the boundary – quite an irresponsible shot given the circumstances. Unfortunately, Afridi didn’t do much better as he looked to play a crazy paddle sweep off Dale Steyn, missed the ball completely and it took off the leg bail.

This brought Pakistan’s debutants, Bilawal Bhatti and Anwar Ali, to the crease. The pair showed maturity beyond their years to dig Pakistan out of their self created hole and took the attack to the South Africans. The boundary was found regularly with the highlight being three successive boundaries by Anwar Ali off Kallis. Bhatti had also motored along to 39 off 25 balls, including two sixes, when he was given LBW off Morkel. The debutants had put on a vital partnership of 74 which had given Pakistan a fighting chance.

Ajmal fell towards the end of the innings but Anwar Ali remained unbeaten on 43 as Pakistan ended on 218/9 from their 50 overs. 


Fall Of Wickets

1-49 (Nasir Jamshed, 15.2 ov), 
2-58 (Mohammad Hafeez, 17.3 ov), 
3-73 (Ahmed Shehzad, 23.3 ov), 
4-97 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 28.6 ov), 
5-98 (Umar Akmal, 29.4 ov), 
6-124 (Sohaib Maqsood, 34.3 ov), 
7-131 (Shahid Afridi, 35.5 ov), 
8-205 (Bilawal Bhatti, 47.3 ov), 
9-213 (Saeed Ajmal, 49.2 ov)
 

A target of 219 was a low one but the strength of Pakistani bowling attack would have given Misbah some hope and his bowlers did not disappoint.

Junaid removed Amla and Hafeez took care of Smith in quick succession, reducing the home side to 20/2 before a 42 run partnership between de Kock and Kallis restored some order to the proceedings. 

de Kock in particular looked all set for another match winning performance before a 148kph snorter from Bilawal Bhatti ripped through the defences of de Kock and bowled him. Afridi then bowled de Villiers with his version of a quicker delivery and Pakistan seemed to be back in business.

With the run rate rising but manageable, Kallis and JP Duminy began their repair job, with the old stalwart playing with his customary confidence. Kallis reached his fifty in the 26th over. Anwar Ali who had a wretched time during the only T20 he played was brought in for the first time during this game. He paid back the trust in his form by the team management by removing Kallis with a ball that hit the bottom of his bat and then crashed on to his stumps. An important wicket for Pakistan at a critical juncture as it appeared that South Africa were inching their way back to the path to victory. 

JP Duminy was a serious threat to any ideas of a Pakistani victory and he had Miller but Anwar Ali wasn't done with the South Africans yet! In his next over he removed Miller with an outswinger and Pakistan were truly amongst the tail - albeit one that bats really well. Philander is no mug with the bat but he was unable to keep down a ball from the world's top spin bowler and lobbed a catch which was picked by a gleeful and diving Sohaib Maqsood. 

Pakistan were sniffing victory at this point but JP Duminy's presence at the crease was a stark reminder that they would need to work harder. The reintroduction of Saeed Ajmal brought the wicket that Pakistan needed when Duminy in trying to accelerate a lagging run rate decided to reverse sweep Ajmal, only for the ball to deflect off his gloves and end up in Umar Akmal's grateful hands. Steyn and Morkel struck a few boundaries to keep the tensions level high, but Bilawal Bhatti returned to the attack and demolished Steyn's stumps to put Pakistan on the brink. He then did the same to Morne Morkel to finish with three wickets as Pakistan pulled off an excellent victory.



Fall Of wickets

1-12 (Amla, 2.2 ov), 
2-20 (Smith, 3.5 ov), 
3-62 (de Kock, 12.1 ov), 
4-79 (de Villiers, 17.2 ov),
5-115 (Kallis, 25.4 ov),
6-123 (Miller, 29.4 ov), 
7-155 (Philander, 37.4 ov),
8-168 (Duminy, 43.1 ov)
9-192 (Steyn, 46.6 ov), 
10-195 (Morkel, 48.1 ov)

Similar story for Pakistan, their batsmen failed but their bowlers bailed them out, both with the bat and the ball! Bilawal Bhatti and Anwr Ali deserve tremendous credit for their knocks, and they followed it up by picking up five wickets between them to give Pakistan a 23 run win. The spinners yet again produced economical spells to keep South Africa under pressure but plenty of work is still required to get the top order scoring runs regularly.