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Pak bowlers take
the honours on Day 1 of the Second Test |
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Scorecard
South Africa found
themselves at a vulnerable 259 for 6 at stumps
on the opening day's play of the second and
final Test at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The
visitors lost all their batsmen in the day's
play with the exception of Mark Boucher which
has left the Pakistan team in a great advantage
in this match. Seven overs were lost in the
day's play because of bad light.
Graeme Smith won the
toss and decided to bat first on what looks to
be a spinner friendly track. The Pakistanis
brought back Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq
(who is playing his last test) for Mohammad
Hafeez and Faisal Iqbal. The two Pakistani
pacers - Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif struck a
blow each early in the innings. However, the SA
innings was brought back into a shape through
the third wicket partnership between Graeme
Smith and Jacques Kallis. Leg Spinner Danish
Kaneria removed both these batsmen to have the
visitors at 160 for 4. Smith made 46 while the
inform Kallis was deceived by a googly after
making 59. Once again South Africa could pull
themselves back from a bad phase and this time
it was through the partnership between Prince
and AB de Villiers which was worth 83 runs. The
breakthrough for Pakistan was given by left arm
spinner Abdul Rehman who was underbowled by
Shoaib Malik. Prince made a patient 63 from 132
balls.
The turning point of the
day's play came when AB de Villiers was run out
in an unfortunate manner at the non striker's
end when he was backing up. AB de Villiers made
45 before getting dismissed in what became the
final over of the day's play. Pakistan will be
looking to wind up the South African first
innings as quickly as possible and then look
upto its batsmen to pile up a huge first innings
total.
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