Pakistan rode on inspired spells of bowling by Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub and Abrar Ahmed to bowl out South Africa for 263 in the first One-day International at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on Tuesday.
In the first international match at the venue in 17 years, South Africa had got off to the ideal start with half-centuries for debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius (57) and the returning Quinton de Kock (63) after they had been put into bat by Pakistan skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi.
But with the exception of skipper Matthew Breetzke (42) and Corbin Bosch (41) in the end, none of their batters could get going as Naseem (3-40), Saim (2-39) and Abrar (3-53) scythed through their line-up after the visitors had bossed the opening period of the game.
In front of an expectant crowd, Pretorius had given a signal of his intent in the second over when he drove and then punched Naseem for two boundaries. De Kock then clipped Shaheen, leading the side for the first time in a 50-over match, for four in the following over before Pretorius got two more boundaries off Naseem in the sixth.
The South African openers then laid into the spinners. De Kock danced down the track and hit a six off Abrar in the ninth before Pretorius treated himself to a four and six off Salman Ali Agha and then raised his half century off 48 balls midway through the 11th over.
De Kock then evaded the mid-wicket fielder to find a boundary in the 12th, with Salman having bled 30 runs in his first three overs. Abrar too wasn’t finding much joy, De Kock flicking him for a six in the next over and South Africa were coasting, reaching 94-0 by the end of the 15th.
Pakistan needed a breakthrough and it was provided by Saim as Pretorius’ slash found a diving Mohammad Nawaz; the left-hander departing after having hit seven fours and a six in his 60-ball stay.
The incoming Tony de Zorzi made a tentative start but then found the stadium’s roof off Nawaz for his first boundary in the 19th over.
At the other end, De Kock was proving a thorn for the hosts, dispatching anything loose to the fence and raised his half century with his fifth four — a sweep off Saim — in exactly 50 balls.
Shaheen brought back Naseem into the attack and after just three runs came off overs 23 and 24, the pacer struck when De Kock chopped him onto his stumps. The veteran, coming back to the ODI fold having retired after the 2023 World Cup, hit six fours and two sixes in his 72-ball knock.
Pakistan got a foothold they wanted and De Zorzi (18) departed in the next over, offering Saim a tame return, having pulled the previous delivery for four.
Breetzke and debutant Sinethemba Qeshile began the rebuilding job and after the run scoring had slowed down, the latter got it back up with three boundaries across two Shaheen overs.
Breetzke had been the slower of the two but got going against Abrar in the 33rd, a six over long on followed by a four. But just when the Proteas seemed to be gaining momentum, Nawaz struck to remove Qeshile (22).
Breetzke, though, was making hay against Abrar, pulling him for another six. But he was running out of partners as Donovan Ferreira was undone by the spinner.
Naseem cleaned up Breetzke off a no-ball but bounced back after that disappointment by getting George Linde caught behind two balls later.
The momentum was with Pakistan as South Africa reached the 40-over mark at 211-6. The visitors were eyeing a closing flourish, with Breetzke and Corbin Bosch helping themselves to boundaries in the 42nd over by Nawaz.
But Pakistan hit back again when Abrar ended Breetzke’s stay and then had Bjorn Fortuin lbw on the next ball. He almost had a hat-trick, only for the DRS to overturn Lungi Ngidi’s lbw.
Bosch, however, got stuck in and took South Africa past 250 — muscling away Shaheen for consecutive boundaries in the 45th over and repeating the trick in the next over by Abrar — before seeing his stumps dismantled by a searing yorker by Shaheen in the penultimate over.Â
Naseem picked up his third wicket in the last over when he cleaned up tailender Lizaad Williams
