CRICKET: 2nd Test – Pakistan vs South Africa

Published 20 November 2010 | By superBul

South Africa 584/9d & 203/5d

Pakistan 434 & 153/3 (67 ov)

Fall of wickets – 1-66 (Taufeeq Umar, 20.3 ov), 2-66 (Mohammad Hafeez, 21.2 ov), 3-66 (Younis Khan, 21.4 ov)

Match drawn

AB de Villiers 278 n/o , new SA individual Record

AB de Villiers has posted South Africa’s highest individual score to give them firm control of the second Test on the second day against Pakistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday.

De Villiers scored 278 not out to pass Graeme Smith’s landmark of 277 against England in Birmingham in 2003, with captain Smith declaring their first innings closed on 584 for nine shortly afterwards.

Taufeeq Umar (16) and Azhar Ali (34) then took Pakistan to 59 for one before bad light stopped play and stumps were drawn with seven overs remaining in the day.

Mohammad Hafeez was the batsman out, playing across his front pad and being trapped lbw for two in the first over of the innings.

De Villiers came to the wicket with the score at 33 for three on the first morning, but immediately looked settled and occupied the crease for more than 11 hours, taking 418 deliveries and hitting 23 fours and six sixes.

South Africa had begun the second day on 311 for five and de Villiers showed excellent management of the lower order as he shared stands of 73 with Mark Boucher (45), 42 with Johan Botha (12), 59 with Steyn (27) and 35 with Paul Harris (19).

The 26-year-old de Villiers reached the record in a thrilling final hour of the innings, when he and last man Morne Morkel (35 not out) added a record 107 runs in 13.4 overs.

South Africa’s previous best 10th-wicket stand was made in 1929 when Harold “Tuppy” Owen-Smith and Alexander “Sandy” Bell added 103 against England in Leeds.

Pace bowler Tanvir Ahmed, playing in his first Test, was the best of the Pakistan bowlers with six for 120 in 27 overs.

De Villiers, who had a reputation for impetuous strokeplay in his youth, batted with composure and maturity, before tearing into the bowling in the hour before tea.

De Villiers, whose double century was the second of this career, and Jacques Kallis (105) had added 179 for the fourth wicket on the first day.

Pakistan will be hoping for an improved showing from their spinners on what could be another slow, low pitch Enlarge

Series/Tournaments: South Africa tour of United Arab Emirates

The Big Picture

Since Pakistan cricket was plunged into scandal during the Lord’s Test three months ago, it seems not a week has gone by without some new twist to the controversy. Yet after their Younis Khan-inspired draw in the first Test at Dubai the Pakistan camp has been remarkably quiet. The clamour surrounding Zulqarnain Haider’s shock departure from the side has died down – for now at least – and, against the odds, Pakistan will go into the second Test under Misbah-ul-Haq’s leadership believing they have the potential to upset the South Africans and win their first Test series since 2006.

At 36, Misbah’s tenure is surely not a long-term option but he showed the value of experience and a calm head in the course of his defiant 186-run stand with Younis and has at least done enough to justify his selection to the team. However, while Pakistan’s batting resilience was admirable their bowling – already dented by the loss of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – has been further hit by Wahab Riaz’s injury. Much will depend on the spinners, Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal, who struggled for incisiveness in the first Test but were not helped by the batting-friendly conditions.

South Africa’s spinners were also not as effective as hoped after both teams went into the match with two slow bowlers. With conditions likely to be similar in Abu Dhabi – another venue hosting a Test for the first time – it will take something special from either team to force a result in the game, and South Africa will look to their new-ball pair of Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn to give them that spark. Morkel’s five-wicket haul set up South Africa’s first-innings lead at Dubai, and while Steyn is not quite back to his best after his return from injury he could have given his team the crucial breakthrough had Mark Boucher held a chance off Younis’s bat early on the fifth morning.

With wins in the one-day and Twenty20 series, Graeme Smith and his men have made no secret of their intention to wrap up a clean sweep with victory in the Tests too. As the No. 2 Test side in world cricket, there’s every reason to back South Africa to do just that but, as always, Pakistan are impossible to predict and simply refuse to be written off.

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