Pakistan V South Africa 4th ODI

With the appearance of Smith at the toss ceremony, there seemed to be a sudden rush of comfortability in the Proteas camp not just with the captaincy stakes but also in having a settled and an experienced opener to partner the red-hot Amla. Immediately, as if to soothen the nerves he won the toss and chose to bat first

Quotes at toss 

Smith: Took a week's time to recover. Judging from the previous match it's better to bat first 

Afridi: We have to win the game! There is no other option isn't it 

Shoaib Akthar  took off from where he left, against Smith as he tested him with a short ball aimed at the rib cage first up. Smith fended it off uncomfortably and Amla got off the mark with a solid punch to cover. Smith was then beaten by Razzaq as he was early into a shot and the ball split the gap between bat and the pad. As if to cool the nerves, Smith then crunched a boundary past the gap between point and gully. He further tried to unsettle Razzaq by coming down the track in an attempt to clear the infield


Akthar then beat the outside edge of Smith's bat and was looking like the bowler who would haunt Smith. Razzaq bowled a fuller and wider ball outside the off stump that Smith capitalised on by smashing it past cover. For all the good work done by Akthar, he threw it away in his third over by overpitching on the pads. Smith gleefully put it away for a boundary and then proceeded to pull one past short midwicket. Akthar was not happy with the proceedings as after fielding the last ball of the over on his follow-through, he seemed to suggest to Smith to keep in mind the shorter deliveries


At the other end, Razzaq was bowling atleast one boundary ball a over as Amla cut one past point. Smith was coming into his own as he got behind a short delivery and pulled it powerfully past midwicket for a boundary. Akthar then snared the big fish by foxing him with a slower delivery. Amla looked to drag flick it and only managed to send the ball high up in the air for Imran Farhat to take the catch at midwicket. It was his lowest score in about an 
year. 


Kallis looked to be in good touch after the duck from the previous match as he warmed himself upto the task with a couple of boundaries off Razzaq's over. In the bowling powerplay, Afridi opted for a double change as bought on Riaz and Hafees. Both started off well and got into rhythm straight away. Hafees induced a mistake from Kallis as he forced him to slog one to cow corner, where Asad Shafiq took an easy catch. The dismissal of Kallis let loose the aggressive version of Smith on Riaz as he cut one to third-man , square-drove past point, and then again cut to third-man for three boundaries in the over

de Villiers took his time in settling down and raised a 50 run partnership with his captain. Smith, with the spinners strangulating his run-scoring freedom decided to do something unusual and was struck on the pads in front of the off and middle by a straight delivery from Hafees, who was just bought in to break the partnership


His dismissal bought about a lull in the scoring rate and de Villiers fell for a soft dismissal as he sliced a fuller ball into the hands of Hafees at point. Afridi in the next over repeatedly beat the outside edge of the new batsman Ingram. What seemed like a 300-plus score at the 30th over was stuttering at 196 by the end of 42 overs


Riaz put them in further trouble by snaring Duminy and Miller of successive balls with yorkers and managed to get Botha into playing a false shot. Botha then took matters into his hand as he paddle scooped, reverse-swept, and cover drove for boundaries. Riaz took the brunt of the attack and Botha , in the company of Ingram steered South Africa to a total of 274

 Morkel struck in the very first over as he caught Farhat in front of the stumps . Younis Khan and Hafees launched a series of drives and flicks that were pulled back in just before the ropes. Hafees finally broke the shackles and flicked one behind square for a boundary. Steyn was introduced into the attack in the sixth over and his duel with Hafees provided the biggest entertainment of the match

Hafees pulled, off-drove, square-drove Steyn for boundaries and Steyn was beating the outside the outside edge of Younis Khan at the other end. Steyn had the final laugh as he struck Hafees on the pads with an inswinger. Hafees was falling across and there was no doubt in anybody's mind as to where it was headed to- middle and leg

Asad and Younis had a little partnership before Asad was out to a good piece of pick-up and throw from Parnell. His throw from mid-on was accurate and Pakistan's chances were dealt a severe blow with his dimissal. Alam then failed to take advantage of a dropped catch and chipped one to extra-cover where Miller completed the formalities

Afridi strode in and he went after Steyn as he took three boundaries of his over and then when he tried to loft Botha away to Persian gulf and got a top edge to Parnell at long-on, it seemed like the win was a distant dream

Razzaq after that dream knock has been subjected to a short ball barrage and it's credit to him that he managed to get through the period and provided company to Younis Khan. They pinched singles and two runs often and kept building the partnership. Younis was a silent spectator to the strokeplay from Hafees and Afridi. It was only after he crossed 50 that he hit his first boundary. H fell to a lazy stroke as he got an inside edge back onto the stumps

Abdur Rehman then fell to a suicidal run-out and Razzaq let go against Steyn as he got edges that fetched a total of six runs in the end. With the third man non-existent, Razzaq wanted to free his arms a bit and drove at a short ball from Morkel. He managed to find the edge and de Villiers made no mistakes

Riaz came in and played a cameo, not before he was dropped on 1 by Smith. He was run out with three runs needed. Haider flicked one to midwicket and set off for a couple. A run-out chance was fluffed by Parnell. Victory was achieved when Haider turned the ball behind square for the winning runs

South Africa's fielding needs to take the blame for the defeat as they dropped at least three catches and leaked a few runs with their ground fielding. The rate at which they hit the stumps is poor too. If they enter the World Cup with these kind of fielding standards, it is bound to hurt them early