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January 22, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

Pakistan have leveled the 3-Test Series 1-1 with a well earned victory at Port Elizabeth in the second test. The touring team won by five wickets even though they had lost their star bowler, Shoaib Akhtar due to injury in the second innings. Inzamam's team were wobbling at 92 for 5 in their chase of 191. Fortunately, Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal came good at a crucial juncture to carry Pak to the target.

Younis Khan remained not out on a disciplined 67 and Kamran Akmal blazed through with a well paced 57 not out which was laced with 9 fours. The two batsmen put on a match winning 99 runs for the unbroken 6th wicket. Inzamam-ul-Haq was the Man of the Match for his match turning 92 in the first innings. Pakistan had started the fourth day's play at 8 for no loss. Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock gave SA a fighting chance by taking two wickets each. Inzamam could make just the one run in the second innings before falling leg before to Ntini. Apart from Younis and Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez was the only other significant contributor with 32. This was Pakistan's second test victory on South African soil. The deciding test match is at Cape Town which starts on the 26th.

 

South Africa's 1st Innings

The St.George's Park wicket turned out to be much quicker than what it is expected to be. There was good pace and bounce, and for Shoaib Akthar, it was all he wanted. The Rawalpindi Express who was flown in as a cover to Umar Gul had ripped apart the South African batting to return with devastating figures of 4 for 36 in 11 overs. Graeme Smith's decision to bat first backfired as his team collapsed to 124 all out in just 40 overs. But for Mark Boucher's 35, SA would have been bowled out for a much cheaper total. Shoaib was well supported by Mohammad Asif, who took two wickets and Danish Kaneria who took the important wickets of Smith, Gibbs and Boucher.

Pakistan's 1st Innings

The tourists had a great opportunity to win the test match after bowling out SA for 124. But with a wicket in only his second ball, Makhaya Ntini was starting to breathe fire just like how Shoaib was early on. The Pakistanis ended a nervous opening day's play at 135 for 6, a lead of 11 runs. Skipper Inzamam was yet to bat as he had sat out for a long time off the field due to a shoulder problem. He did come out to bat first up in the second day and turned the match in favour of his side with a brilliant unbeaten 92 which had 13 fours. Along with Mohammad Asif, he put on 74 runs for the last wicket! Asif contributed only 7 out of those as Inzamam gathered most of the strike with some common sense batting with the no. 11. Pakistan stretched their first innings total to 265, which gave them a handsome lead of 141. Younis Khan was the second highest scorer with 45 while Mohammad Yousuf and Kamran Akmal scored thirties. Ntini picked up six wickets in 21 overs, giving away 59 runs.

South Africa's 2nd Innings

There was immense pressure on the home side, a batting collapse to the new ball meant that they had to squander the 1-0 lead in this test series. They were lucky that Pakistan was missing the services of Shoaib Akhtar, the man who had done the damage in the first innings. The fast bowler was out with a hamstring injury. But Mohammad Asif was more than enough, it looked to be for Pakistan. Asif removed the two opening batsmen Smith and AB de Villiers early. Mohammad Sami provided the icing on the cake when he had got Hashim Amla's wicket to have SA at 61 for 3. Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince resisted any further inroads by taking SA to 115 for 3 at the close of the second day's play.

For South Africa to win the test, they had to bat most part of the third day's play through Kallis and other prime batsmen. It didn't work that way as the day started badly with Prince falling early. There was hope when Herschelle Gibbs (40) put up a good partnership of 78 with Kallis as SA got into the lead. But Kaneria and Asif kept on taking wickets at regular intervals to arrest any South Africa come back. In the end, SA got 331, leaving Pakistan a not so easy target of 191. When Kallis departed on 91 and a team total of 205 for 6, the lead was just 64! Boucher (46) and Pollock (36) added a crucial 80 run-partnership for the next wicket which was instrumental in the 190-run second innings lead. Mohammad Asif picked up his third five wicket haul. He had to bowl 38 overs in the absence of Shoaib to take 5 for 76. For Kaneria, it was equally a heavy work out as he bowled 51.2 overs for his 4 for 105.

Shabbir Ahmed to join team

Pakistan have given a recall to the tall and lanky Shabbir Ahmed for the injured Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul, who are both flown back to Pakistan. The 30-year-old Shabbir had suffered from a suspect bowling action which saw him get banned for a year by the ICC. Shabbir stands tall at 6ft 5" and relies on getting the ball to lift uncomfortably for the batsmen. He had taken an impressive 51 wickets in the 10 Tests he had played since his debut in 2003.

 

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