Pakistan beat South Africa by three wickets in the fourth One Day International (ODI) keeping the series alive.
Pakistan and South Africa ODI series stand two-all with the final decider to be played on March 24.
Pakistan was almost exactly in the same situation in the beginning of the innings, at 34 for 3, as South Africa who were at 33 for 3.
Mohammad Hafeez became the first batsman in international cricket to be dismissed obstructing the field under the new laws.
It was up to Farhat and Misbahul Haq to do what AB de Villiers and Miller did but the Pakistani duo ended up on the winning side.
Misbahul Haq now has the record for making the highest runs by any Pakistani captain against South Africa in an ODI.
Towards the end of the innings, Pakistan’s batsmen tried to snatch loss from the jaws of victory by losing four wickets in close succession.
After losing three early wickets Pakistan came back strongly to win the match.
Earlier, Pakistan’s fast bowlers struck and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal ended a promising fightback by South Africa in the fourth one-day international at Kingsmead on Thursday.
South Africa, leading the five-match series 2-1, struggled to 234 for nine in their 50 overs, despite fourth wicket stand of 115 between captain AB de Villiers (75) and David Miller (67).
South Africa’s troubles started early when the tall left-armer Mohammad Irfan took wickets with the first two balls of the match. He had Hashim Amla caught behind, then bowled Colin Ingram with a yorker.
Fellow left-armer Junaid Khan followed up with the wickets of Graeme Smith and Farhaan Behardien as South Africa slumped to 38 for four after winning the toss.
De Villiers and Miller gave the home side hope of making a good total before Miller missed a sweep against Ajmal and was out after a career-best innings.
Miller’s 67 was scored off 77 balls and he hit seven fours.
His dismissal came nine balls before the batting power play and South Africa’s hopes plummeted when De Villiers was caught behind when he was adjudged to have gloved a sweep against Ajmal after making 75 off 108 balls with five fours.
The off-spinner had Ryan McLaren caught in the deep as the power play yielded just 17 runs for the loss of two wickets.
Ajmal took three for 42 in ten overs, while Irfan claimed three for 46 in nine and Junaid took three for 45 in nine.
Earlier, South Africa won the toss and chose to bat at the start of the fourth One-Day International (ODI) against Pakistan, on Thursday, Express News.
This is the first ODI in Durban since 2007. South Africa begins with a 2-1 lead against Pakistan in the five match series.
The Proteas have replaced injured player Faf du Plessis with David Miller while Pakistan have dropped Nasir Jamshed in favour of Imran Farhat who was cleared as “fit”. Umar Gul though misses out having been declared “unfit” for the match.
Pakistan hold the record for the highest innings total at Kingsmead. Their 351 for 4 in the 2006-07 included Shahid Afridi’s score of 77 off 35 balls. They went on to beat South Africa by 141 runs.
The last time South Africa won two consecutive ODIs in a series was more than a year ago, when they beat New Zealand 3-0 in February-March 2012.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA
HM Amla c †Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Irfan 0
GC Smith b Junaid Khan 12
CA Ingram b Mohammad Irfan 0
AB de Villiers*† c †Kamran Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 75
F Behardien c †Kamran Akmal b Junaid Khan 1
DA Miller lbw b Saeed Ajmal 67
R McLaren c Mohammad Irfan b Saeed Ajmal 11
RJ Peterson not out 25
RK Kleinveldt b Mohammad Irfan 18
DW Steyn b Junaid Khan 9
LL Tsotsobe not out 5
EXTRAS (lb 2, w 9) 11
TOTAL 234
FALL OF WICKETS 1-0 (Amla, 0.1 ov), 2-0 (Ingram, 0.2 ov), 3-34 (Smith, 9.1 ov), 4-38 (Behardien, 9.6 ov), 5-153 (Miller, 33.3 ov), 6-170 (de Villiers, 37.3 ov), 7-177 (McLaren, 39.4 ov), 8-207 (Kleinveldt, 46.5 ov), 9-221 (Steyn, 49.1 ov)
BOWLING
Mohammad Irfan 9-0-46-3, Junaid Khan 9-2-45-3, Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-40-0, Wahab Riaz 4-0-16-0, Saeed Ajmal 10-0-42-3, Shahid Afridi 8-0-43-0
PAKISTAN
Imran Farhat c Behardien b Steyn 93
Mohammad Hafeez obstructing the field 0
Kamran Akmal† c Miller b Tsotsobe 11
Younis Khan b Kleinveldt 6
Misbah-ul-Haq* c Behardien b Peterson 80
Shahid Afridi c †de Villiers b Peterson 4
Shoaib Malik not out 19
Wahab Riaz run out (Miller) 0
Saeed Ajmal not out 5
EXTRAS (b 1, lb 4, w 13) 18
TOTAL 236
DID NOT BAT Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan
FALL OF WICKETS 1-2 (Mohammad Hafeez, 1.3 ov), 2-18 (Kamran Akmal, 5.2 ov), 3-33 (Younis Khan, 10.6 ov), 4-186 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 41.1 ov), 5-191 (Shahid Afridi, 41.5 ov), 6-226 (Imran Farhat, 47.4 ov), 7-227 (Wahab Riaz, 48.1 ov)
BOWLING
DW Steyn 10-3-26-1, LL Tsotsobe 9.4-1-51-1, RK Kleinveldt 10-0-51-1, RJ Peterson 10-0-46-2, R McLaren 8-0-40-0, CA Ingram 1-0-17-0,
Match details
Toss South Africa, who chose to bat
Series 5-match series level 2-2
Player of the match tba
Umpires HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and S George
TV umpire BF Bowden (New Zealand)
Match referee AJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe)
Reserve umpire M Erasmus
LOTS OF HEARDELT CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS VICTORY.FOR ALLAH`S SAKE RECOLLECT ALL YOUR POWERS AND ENERGIES TO INCREASE PAKISTAN`S HONOURS IN THE WORLD WITH THE SAME SPIRIT AND WITH FULL DEVOTION AND DETERMINATION ONLY FOR PAKISTAN.INN SHAH ALLAH SUCCESS WILL BE ON YOUR FEET.DO NOT MAKE DIFIERENCES AMONG YOU AS ENEMIES WILL GET BENEFITS AND BE UNITED NO BODY WILL HARM YOU.WIN THE FINAL MATCH WITH THE SAME SPIRIT AND MAKE HAPPY DISTURBED PUBLIC OF PAKISTAN BY OUR GOOD ACTIONS.MAY LAAH HELP YOU.AAMEEN
THE BOWLERS ALLOWED LATER BATSMEN LIBERTY AND THEY MANAGED 234.JUNAID kHAN HAS SOME WRONG NOTIONS ABOUT HIS LIMITED ABILITIES.HE BOWLS SHORT TO LATER BATSMEN AND THEY MAKE FOOL OF HIM.OUR BOWLERS DO NOT HAVE THE SPEED TO DO THIS.WE NEED YORKERS BUT YORKERS NEED POWER AND STRENGTH.ASK WASEEM AKRAM AND WAQAR YOUNUS. THIS IS WHERE THE CAPTAIN FIGURES.BUT HE DID NOT.SMILES DONT SOLVE THE ISSUE BUT A KICK DOES.
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