Pakistan tail hangs on to beat spirited South Africa by 2 wickets in ODI series opener

FAISALABAD, Pakistan (AP) – A full-strength Pakistan beat a spirited South Africa by two wickets in their ODI series opener on Tuesday to mark the return of international cricket in Faisalabad after a 17-year absence.

Pakistan tailenders hung in to reach 264-8 in the last over as an inexperienced South Africa fought gallantly to claim four wickets in the last five overs and pushed the home team to the limit.

South Africa, which lost its sixth straight toss across formats on its tour of Pakistan, couldn’t capitalize on half-centuries from debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius (57) and Quinton de Kock (63) before it got bowled out for 263 in 49.1 overs.

Top-scorer Salman Ali Agha (62) and Mohammad Rizwan (55) saw Pakistan cruising to 196-3 in the 39th over before Pakistan nearly slipped in what appeared to be a straightforward run-chase.

Rizwan smashed a half-century in his first ODI after being removed from the captaincy and was replaced by Shaheen Shah Afridi as he shared 91-run stand with Agha to put the chase back on track.

Rizwan and Agha gauged the slow wicket perfectly after Pakistan lost three wickets in the space of 18 runs as they kept rotating the strike with picking up singles and twos.

The left-handed opening pair of Fakhar Zaman (45) and Saim Ayub (39) combined in a 87-run partnership against a second-string South Africa pace attack as the Proteas rested key fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen for the three-match series.

Off-spinner Donovan Ferreira, one of the three South African debutants, pegged back the chase with the pitch offering plenty of assistance to the spinners. Ferreira removed both openers in his successive overs when Ayub was adjudged plumb leg before wicket as he tried to cut the off-spinner and Zaman holed out at long-on while attempting a big shot against Ferreira.

Babar Azam, whose half-century helped Pakistan clinch the T20 series at Lahore last Saturday, lasted only 12 balls before he was lbw by left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin’s delivery that skidded into the right-hander and struck him low on the pads.

Rizwan and Agha then dug in by rotating the strike as the former dominated the spinners with his trademark strong sweep shots before he holed out to deep mid-wicket of Corbin Bosch’s shot ball, but mistimed the pull shot.

Agha and Hussain Talat (22) added 44 runs and Agha completed his half-century with a straight six before South Africa made a stunning comeback when Lungi Ngidi deceived Talat with a slower ball and George Linde plucked a low catch at mid-off.

With the wicket assisting spinners, captain Matthew Breetzke kept on spinners from one end in the death overs as Linde had Hasan Nawaz stumped. Pakistan needed run-a-ball off the final two overs, but Agha was brilliantly snapped by Ferreira at long-on.

And with the scores tied Mohammad Nawaz got a leading edge of Bosch’s short ball in the final over before Naseem Shah ran a leg bye to carry Pakistan home with two balls to spare.

De Kock, coming out of ODI retirement after two years, and Pretorius put up a strong opening stand of 98 runs of 96 balls as they batted aggressively against the pace before South Africa lost its way in the latter half of the innings and lost the last seven wickets for 72 runs.

Pretorius found the early momentum as he struck well square of the wicket and also played some brilliant shots down the ground before completing his half-century off 47 balls with seven boundaries and a six.

Pakistan turned to its spinners and Saim Ayub made an immediate impact when the off-spinner lured Pretorious to drive and had him caught at point. De Kock changed the gears and raised his 31st ODI half-century off 50 balls but chopped Naseem Shah’s ball back onto his stumps in the 25th over.

South Africa lost its way thereafter when Ayub succeeded in getting leading edge of Tony de Zorzi’s (18) bat and held onto a head high return catch.

Debutant batter Sinethemba Qeshile (22) showed promise and struck three boundaries as he combined in a 44-run stand with Breetzke before Pakistan spinners ran through the middle-order.

Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed (3-53) almost got a hat-trick when he dismissed Ferreira and Fortuin off successive deliveries. Ngidi was declared lbw of Ahmed’s hat-trick ball which brought the home crowd on their feet only to see the batter going for a successful television review that showed he had got a big inside edge.

Bosch then made a quickfire 41 off 40 balls with six fours that pushed South Africa to a total which nearly brought them win in the first game of the three-match series.