South African bowlers dominate on Day 2 of the third Test at Centuron.

Toss: South Africa Won & Chose To Bat

Teams

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil

South Africa: GC Smith*, AN Petersen, HM Amla, F du Plessis, AB de Villiers†, KJ Abbott, D Elgar, VD Philander, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, RK Kleinveldt


Day 2

Morning Session

Pakistan would have started the day with the aim of quickly knocking over the final four South African wickets and they managed it. Philander made a significant contribution (74) and added 29 to his overnight score, caught at first slip by Hafeez off Younis Khan. The catch was reviewed by the third umpire, but he ruled it to be clean. His partner from yesterday, AB de Villiers departed soon after to a good catch by Asad Shafiq in the deep, but not before he reached three figures.

The remaining South African batsmen were unable to make a significant contribution as Abbott (13) and Kleinveldt (0) were picked up by Rahat Ali as he ended with figures of 6/129. With Ehsan Adil unable to bowl due to injuries, Rahat did well to carry the attack and in total bowled 27 overs as South Africa were bowled out for 409.

The Pakistani openers had to face a tricky five overs before lunch, but survived unscathed – 9/0.

Afternoon Session

The Pakistani batsmen started the afternoon started brightly, led by a confident-looking Imran Farhat and the opening pair made it to 43, the largest opening stand of the tour before Farhat was adjudged lbw off Philander. This wicket precipitated an all too familiar collapse as debutant Kyle Abbott ran through the Pakistani line-up with some accurately bowling. At times, the batsmen appeared to be offering little more than slip catching practice to the South Africans, but that’s not to take anything away from the debutant whose line and length exploited some uneven bounce in the wicket.

Hafeez was next to go, caught at gully. The third umpire adjudged the catch was taken cleanly, but it was hard to understand how he came to the decision given the quality of the replays offered by the broadcaster. Azhar Ali was out next, lbw to Philander for just 6. Misbah (10) never looked comfortable with the ball moving around and was also out before tea, caught at slip off Abbott.


Evening Session

Things only got worse for the away side as the pitch started to become increasingly difficult to bat on, with signs of breaking up. The South African bowlers were able to capitalise with some accurate bowling as Pakistan lost Asad (6), Sarfraz (17), Saeed Ajmal (0), Ehsan Adil (9) and Younis Khan (33) in the space of 16 overs and 59 runs. Younis Khan was last out, trying to score runs as he ran out of partners. The star of the show had been Kyle Abbott, who ended with figures of 7/29 as Pakistan were skittled for 156 in just 46.4 overs.

Captain Graeme Smith enforced the follow-on and Hafeez’ miserable run with the bat continued as he played on to a Steyn inswinger and was dismissed for a duck. Azhar Ali, who was opening in the second innings due to a hand injury to Farhat, and Younis Khan managed to reach stumps without losing their wickets as Pakistan ended the day on 14/1.


Fall of Wickets

Morning Session
7-377 (Philander, 94.3 ov)
8-394 (de Villiers, 99.3 ov)
9-402 (Kleinveldt, 101.3 ov)
10-409 (Abbott, 103.2 ov)


Afternoon Session
1-46 (Imran Farhat, 16.1 ov)
2-56 (Mohammad Hafeez, 17.6 ov)
3-56 (Azhar Ali, 18.1 ov)
4-75 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 25.4 ov)

Evening Session
5-95 (Asad Shafiq, 29.4 ov)
6-132 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 40.1 ov)
7-132 (Saeed Ajmal, 40.2 ov)
8-149 (Ehsan Adil, 44.2 ov)
9-149 (Mohammad Irfan, 44.4 ov)
10-156 (Younis Khan, 46.4 ov)

Following on

1-0 (Mohammad Hafeez, 0.1 ov)

Summary

Pakistan would have been happy to have wrapped up the South African tail relatively quickly, but the South African bowlers, and in particular debutant Abbott, ensured they ended the day ahead in the game.