Muhammad Asif 5 for 89 | Pakistan Tour South Africa 2007

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  • Опубликовано: 8 дек 2021
  • #MuhammadAsif
    Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis staved off any threat from Pakistan to ease South Africa to victory in the first Test. Proceedings today weren't about entertainment for the hosts - ironically Pakistan 's exciting and explosive batting of yesterday had put paid to that - they were just about getting the job done. In the end, a convincing victory came easily, by seven wickets, thanks to the pair's unbroken stand of 119.
    Kallis's efforts in particular would have made the most clinical of surgeons proud. He delivered a series of calm, precise dissections of the field, his soft hands delicately cutting into Pakistan's morale.
    His were just small, neat cuts but they were enough to do the damage. He was in control from the moment he arrived at the crease, early in the opening session, following Harris's uppish drive off Mohammad Asif to covers where Faisal Iqbal snapped up a tidy low catch.
    Amla didn't exactly do a hatchet job, either, although Kaneria stitched him up twice in the first over and later he prodded the odd nick in front of gully. He also stabbed a leading edge which popped back just short of Kaneria. But he continued to play watchfully, grew in stature, and picked off the singles as South Africa solidified their position.
    The visitors looked to Kaneria's wrist to provide the threat on a wearing pitch, but although he found turn and landed the ball in the right areas, Amla and Kallis played him well. Asif tired towards the end of his morning spell, allowing a host of no-balls to creep in. His lacklustre efforts were matched by Pakistan's fielding, allowing precious singles to slip through their fingers.
    The nightwatchman Harris was the only faller in a rain-truncated morning session and his departure merely opened the way for a calm Kallis to join Amla in chipping away at the target. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was brought into the attack after lunch, and though he found a touch of reverse, he couldn't find the edge and the South African pair continued serenely on their way.
    They each reached their half-centuries with ease and, by the middle of the afternoon, victory was sewn up, eventually with just as much ease.
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