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Decider heads for
a third day finish with SA having the edge! |
January 27, 2007 (Link to
Scorecard)
 The
deciding Test match at Newlands has seen just
two days of cricket which was enough to set the
match up for a finish early on the third day's
play. South Africa are 125 runs short of a
series winning victory. But they have lost two
wickets which includes that of Boeta Dippenaar
and the night watchman, Paul Harris. They do
have Graeme Smith in the middle, who has got a
start to his innings, batting on 33. So the
Proteas must be a better placed team by some
distance at this stage with just few runs to
get. But you never know what Pakistan can dish
out on this bowler friendly wicket at Cape Town.
It was another action packed day just like how
the opening day's play was. The first day saw 15
wickets going down and the second day got
slightly better with 17 wickets falling! The
Proteas, however, took the crucial first innings
lead, which was a morale booster even if it was
just the 26 runs. Mark Boucher with an unbeaten
40 with 5 fours and 2 sixes was the man
responsible for taking his side to 183 as the
Pakistani bowlers wrapped up the innings in just
53 overs. The South African first innings lasted
only 14 overs on the second day's with five
wickets going down at the addition of 52 runs.
Asif and Kaneria picked up three wickets each.
Pakistan in their second innings could only get
186 on the board, 29 runs more than what they
had got in their first innings. They were packed
in a little over 51 overs with Yasir Hameed
being the top scorer with 35. First innings
hero, Mohammad Yousuf looked threatening before
he was bowled by Andrew Hall for 18. Pakistan
were at 121 for 7, which gave them a lead of 95
and the test match looked good to be over in the
second day itself! But a fighting stand between
Mohammad Sami, the no.8 and Shahid Nazir, the
no.9 gave something to bowl at in SA's 2nd
innings. The eight wicket partnership was worth
55 runs with Sami scoring 31 and Shahid Nazir
ending up with a useful 27. Dale Steyn was the
most successful bowler taking three wickets
while Kallis, Hall and Harris took a couple of
wickets each.
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