The first test match between South Africa and Pakistan in Dubai ended in a draw.

South Africa: 380 (Smith 100, Amla 80, Kallis 73, Petersen 67, Gul 3-100)
Pakistan: 248 (Hafeez 60, Azhar 56, Morkel 5-54)
South Africa: 318/2 dec(Amla 118*, Kallis 135*)
Pakistan: 343/3 (Younis 131*, Misbah 76*)
MATCH DRAWN

PAKISTAN SECOND INNINGS

Resuming on 109/2, the Pakistanis showed plenty of resolve in batting to save the test match after chasing an improbable 451 victory target.

The Proteas had their chances early, but three dropped chances cost them any chance of bringing new batsmen to the crease and with Younis Khan a rock at one end, Azhar Ali and Misbah Ul-Haq supported brilliantly to frustrate the South African bowlers.

CATCHES WIN MATCHES

Whilst both captains praised Younis Khan’s innings, it was the poor fielding display that cost the Proteas. Catches win matches, and if you drop 3 chances you will pay.

I also feel the South African pace bowlers, especially Morne Morkel don’t attack the stumps enough, and I would perfer to see Tsotsobe come in for Morkel.

SERIES DECIDER

It now leaves the series to be decided upon by the second and final test to take place in Abu Dhabi.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis put on a record unbroken stand of 242 to give the Proteas a strong chance of victoy in the first test.

South Africa: 380 (Smith 100, Amla 80, Kallis 73, Petersen 67, Gul 3-100)
Pakistan: 248 (Hafeez 60, Azhar 56, Morkel 5-54)
South Africa: 318/2 dec(Amla 118*, Kallis 135*)
Pakistan: 109/2 (Azhar 37*, Younis 11*)
South Africa lead by 341 runs



The Proteas need a remaining 8 wickets in 3 sessions to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

SOUTH AFRICAN SECOND INNINGS

Resuming on 139/2, Amla and Kallis batted superbly. They were largely untroubled, playing their natural game on a benign pitch and both being rewarded with unbeaten hundreds.

It was South Africa’s second-highest stand for any wicket against Pakistan.

Afterwards Kallis said, “I think Hashim and myself got ourselves to a good start, we were always ahead of the rate, we complemented each other well. It was tough scoring, the wicket is pretty slow, outfield is slow as well. We put away the bad balls that we got, and got to a total we were happy with.”

It left Pakistan with a daunting 451 for victory.

PAKISTAN SECOND INNINGS

Azhar Ali and Younis Khan remain the not out batsmen and will have to bat for a long perriod tomorrow if Pakistan have any hope of saving this test match.

They may be aided by an arm injury to Dale Steyn picked up from throwing a bal in from the boundary. It remains to be seen just how much this will hamper him.

As we’ve often come to expect however, don’t rule out a Pakistani batting collapse at any stage! South Africa are in the box seat for a victory and have the luxury of being able to attack all day on a wearing pitch.

Morne Morkel ripped through the lower end of the Pakistan batting lineup to leave South Africa strongly poised for victory in the first test in Dubai.

South Africa: 380 (Smith 100, Amla 80, Kallis 73, Petersen 67, Gul 3-100)
Pakistan: 248 (Hafeez 60, Azhar 56, Morkel 5-54)
South Africa: 139/2 (Amla 44*, Kallis, 32*)
South Africa lead by 271 runs

PAKISTAN FIRST INNINGS

A typical collapse took Pakistan from a fighting position, to finding themselves in a losing position once more.

They were cruising at 176/2, before the dismissal of Younis khan triggered a collapse of 72/7. (Interestingly, the previous day South Africa lost 7 for 73.)

Initally Johan Botha got the breakthroughs, backed up with some superb fielding from AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla who took a screamer at forward short leg. Then it was the pace duo of Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Morkel ripping through the Pakistan lower order to finish with 5 for 54. I’ve been critical of Morkel in the past for failing to get 5 wicket bags, and take enough wickets, let’s hope this is a turning point in his career for he bowled well.

SOUTH AFRICAN SECOND INNINGS

With only 1 real pace bowler (Younis Khan shared the new ball) in Umar Gul, Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen just had to get through the new ball spell to put the Proteas in a commanding position.

Whilst neither played convincingly well, a couple of tough LBW decisions put paid to their innings. Petersen fell at 47, and Smith at 76, before Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis steadied the ship to leave South Africa at 139/2.

THEIRS TO LOSE

The match is now South Africa’s to lose. If they can score another 200 in 2 sessions, it’ll give Pakistan just over 450 to chase, and the Proteas 4 sessions to get 10 wickets.

The South African top order dominated the Pakistan bowling attack on the first day of the test series to set South Africa up for a strong test match.

South Africa: 380 (Smith 100, Amla 80, Kallis 73, Petersen 67, Gul 3-100)
Pakistan: 144/2 (Azhar 12*, Younis 21*)
South Africa lead by 236 runs

The momementum in the match has swung as South Africa’s dominance was undone by Umar Gul and then the Pakistani top order took the game to the Proteas, leaving the match evenly poised.

SOUTH AFRICAN INNINGS

With an injury to Wahab Riaz who has been ruled out of the series, Pakistan were reduced to 1 paceman. Younis Khan turned his arm over to support Umar Gul who carried the Pakistan side superbly by himself.

All the Proteas had to do was see off his first spell and cash in, but a steady flow of wickets put the Proteas under pressure.

The entire middle order failed, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher. It put pressure on Jaques Kallis who eventually fell for 73, along with the South African resistance.

South Africa were eventually dismissed for 380, losing their last 8 wickets for 73.

PAKISTAN INNINGS

Pakistan continued their momentum shift as they tore into the South African new ball attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, scoring 88 runs off the first 22 overs.

With the Pakistani batsmen not afraid to play their shots, It required Jaques Kallis, Paul Harris and Johan Botha to put on the brakes, and the pressure allowed South Africa to snaffle two wickets before the close of play.

FAIRLY EVEN

After 2 days, the match is evenly poised with South Africa leading by 236 runs, and Pakistan hold 8 first wickets in hand.

The key will be the morning session, especially the wicket of Younis Khan. If South Africa can prise him out, and grab early wickets, they’ll be right back in it.

If Pakistan can build partnerships, they can cash in later in the day.

It should be a good battle.

South African all rounder became the 5th highest run scorer in test matches as he scored an unbeaten 53 against Pakistan in the first test.

He becomes the first South African to move into the top 5, and is just 528 runs behind India’s Rahul Dravid who is 4th.

Sachin Tendulkar leads the way with 14292, possibly never to be eclipsed from top spot. Tendulkar has the best average, but Kallis is second out of the top 18.

You also have to go down to 19th on the list to find the next genuine all-rounder (Sir Gary Sobers), which highlights how remarkable Kallis’ achievements have been.

Kallis 1071 runs behind Ponting in second place, but don’t bet against him moving into the top 3 before too long!

Full list of top run scorers in tests

The South African top order dominated the Pakistan bowling attack on the first day of the test series to set South Africa up for a strong test match.

South Africa: 311/3 (Smith 100, Amla 80, Petersen 67, Kallis 53*)


Graeme Smith led from the front as he and Alviro Petersen fought hard on a relatively benign track after having won the toss.

It was not always pretty, but it was effective, and Smith and Petersen were able to see off the Pakistan opening pair, Umar Gul bowling without any luck.

The opening pair put on 153, before both Petersen and Smith were out to half trackers, hitting them straight down the throat of the fielders. They’ll be disappointed they didn’t go on to big scores, but it set a great platform for South Africa’s kingpins, Hashim Amla and King Kallis.

They put on a stand of 117, before Amla was out wafting at a widish delivery just before the close of play for the day. He’ll be disappointed to have gotten out for 80 when a century was looming.

RECORDS

Graeme Smith became the highest run scorer as a captain (6664), surpassing Alan Border’s record (6623).

In posting his 13th Test ton on foreign soil, he moved into joint third position with compatriot Gary Kirsten and Australian legend Neil Harvey for that milestone among left-handers.

The leader is West Indies’ Brian Lara with 17, followed by Allan Border of Australia with 14.

“It wasn’t something that I really thought about before the game but obviously having seen it now, I’m extremely proud. If I think back to the beginning part of my career when I took over the captaincy at such a young age, it’s difficult to be put in the same bracket with the Pontings, Borders and Waugh’s, so many unbelievable names on that board” said Graeme Smith.

“From my perspective it’s an honour and something that I’m proud of and hopefully something that I can build on still in the future.”

Jacques Kallis moved into 5th position on the all time test match career runs list, overtaking Alan Border.

SET UP

The Proteas are now set for a massive first innings score, allowing them to put Pakistan under immense pressure. Much will depend on Kallis who has a poor record resuming his innings on a second day, but if he gets stuck in, he can score that elusive double hundred, and set the Proteas up.

South Africa beat Pakistan by 57 runs in the 5th ODI at the DSC International Cricket Stadium to take the ODI series 3-2 on Monday.

South Africawon by 57 runs
South Africa: 317/5 (Kallis 83, Amla 62, Afridi 2-59)
Pakistan: 260 (Akmal 60, Hafeez 59, Kallis 3-40)


A brilliant all round performance from Jacques Kallis led South Africa to a well-deserved victory over Pakistan in Dubai, to seal a closely fought series 3-2.

Kallis delivered strong performances with both bat and ball, underlying his class and importance to the Proteas.

Kallis became only the 6th player (and first South African) to score 11000 runs in ODI’s in his 307th match.

The others to achieve it are:
Sachin Tendulkar – India (17598)
Sanath Jayasuriya – Sri Lanka (13428)
Ricky Ponting – Australia (13082)
Inzamam-ul-Haq – Pakistan (11739)
Sourav Ganguly – India (11363)

SOUTH AFRICAN INNINGS

It was the consistent batting once again of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis (83) that set a strong platform for the Proteas innings. Amla scored 62 at a great clip, before Kallis kept the momentum going with AB de Villiers (61).

With around 10 overs to go, and a great platform to launch from, AB de Villiers, Kallis and Colin Ingram all departed in quick succession, but JP Duminy played a great cameo.

Duminy scored 59 off 41 deliveries as the powerplay yielded 64 runs, taking South Africa past 300.

PAKISTAN INNINGS

Pakistan enjoyed their best start to their innings all series as they put on 82 for the first wicket. It was Kallis who put the brakes on, taking three crucial top order wickets to rip the heart out of the Pakistani run chase.

From there, pressure and a mounting run rate made life difficult for Pakistan who just could not seriously challenge such a large total without wickets in hand.

Umar Akmal offered a glimmer of hope with a well fought 60, but it was a mountain to large to climb.

GREAT SERIES

A 3-2 result to South Africa was a fair reflection of the series.

The Proteas still have plenty to work on heading towards the World Cup, most notably the bowling at the death and even fielding.

However it was great to see Pakistan show pride in their cricket, and perform strongly in the international arena once again. World cricket is so much better off with a strong Pakistani side.

We now have a 2 match test series, in which the Proteas should be too good for Pakistan in the longer format of the game, but with Pakistan you just never know.

Pakistan beat South Africa in a close encounter in the 4th ODI at the DSC International Cricket Stadium to tie the series 2-2 and set up a thrilling finale on Monday.

Pakistan won by 1 wicket (with 1 ball remaining)
South Africa: 274/6 (Smith 92)
Pakistan: 275/9 (Younis 73, Hafeez 42)


Pakistan produced another classic run chase, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, whilst the Proteas once again wilted under pressure.

SOUTH AFRICAN INNINGS

Graeme Smith produced a srong innings as he scored 92 off 105 balls. He had to after kingpins Hashim Amla (10) and Jacques Kallis (15) fell early in the innings.

With 3 wickets down for 150 in the 30th over, South Africa had a decent platform from which to launch themselves in the last 20 overs, but the batting never fired strongly enough, and whilst 274 was a good score, South Africa need to be able to convert starts like that into match winning scores.

No one in the middle order played a strong hand with AB de Villiers (49), JP Duminy (36) and Colin Ingram (27) unable to blast away and get away from Pakistan.

PAKISTAN INNINGS

Pakistan have had some horror starts to their innings and this was no different. After the early loss of Imran Farhat, Pakistan built a good launching pad with a strong showing from Younis Khan.

He was well supported by Asad Shafiq (36), Shahid Afridi (29) and Abdul Razzaq (33).

When Razzaq was gone to leave Pakistan 244/8, still needing 31 off 23, South Africa should have had the match in the bag, but once again the bowling at the death was not good enough.

Under pressure the Proteas have been found wanting with their bowling, fielding and catching. For a team with some very experienced players, it is just not good enough.

Can anyone explain why such good players struggle under pressure?

SERIES DECIDER

Pakistan tied the series 2-2, setting up a thrilling decider to be played at the same ground on Monday. Don’t miss it!

South Africa narrowly beat Pakistan by 2 runs in the third game of the ODI series at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

South Africa won by 2 runs
South Africa: 228/9 (Amla 119*, Shoaib 3-39)
Pakistan: 226/9 (Fawad 59*, Morne Morkel 4-47)


The Proteas almost produced a carbon copy of their match 2 days previously, but were able to reverse the roles as they won a match which went down to the last ball and last wicket.

The Proteas once again showed however that under pressure, the players struggle and in the end it was the match winning innings of man of the match Hashim Amla that saved them.

SOUTH AFRICAN INNINGS

The South African innings got off to a bad start thanks to a fiery spell from Shoabib Akhtar.

Amla struggled eearly but weathered the storm whilst, Jacques Kallis was out for a rare duck.

From that point wickets fell regularly, with no one supporting Amla for long.

Amla held the innings together as he scored 119no and carried his bat. He was able to score at about a run a ball on a slowish pitch, adapting to the conditions.

After the match Amla said, “It was a tough wicket, but I got some rhythm going. I realised from the beginning that I needed to bat through. I knew 200-220 is a good score here. Each game gives me a bit more experience, and things have gone well recently.”

It was his 6th ODI century, and he has scored 986 runs in 13 one-day matches this year, including 5 hundreds.

PAKISTAN INNINGS

Pakistan once again lost early wickets which derailed their run chase.

Tsotsobe bowled tidily once again, whilst Morne Morkel got into the wickets.

The Pakistanis left too much work for the lower order and when Sunday’s hero Razzaq departed, it felt like game over.

However Fawad Alam had other ideas, and almost won the match for Pakistan.

The Proteas will be concerned that under pressure their bowlers failed to deliver (although Rusty Theron and Tsotsobe looked good and need to be the death bowlers I feel) whilst the fielding was uncharacteristically poor.

With the World Cup not far away, the ability to play well under pressure is paramount.

SA LEAD

South Africa take a 2-1 lead in the series, which will be tough for Pakistan to come back from. The next match takes place at the same venue on Friday.

One of South Africa’s most popular sportsmen, Makhaya Ntini announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday at a press conference in Johannesburg.

He remains available for his franchise, the Chevrolet Warriors.

Ntini will will be given a farewell during the Twenty20 international between South Africa and India at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on January 9, when he will make his final appearance for South Africa.

In his 101 test appearances, Ntini captured 390 wickets, making him the second-highest test wicket taker behind Shaun Pollock (and 11th highest in the world).

His 266 wickets from his 173 ODI’s makes him the third highest South African wicket taken in limited overs cricket.

He holds the South African records for:

The best SA bowling figures in Test cricket – 13/132 against the West Indies at Trinidad in 2005
Best SA bowling in ODI cricket – 6/23 against Australia at Sahara Park Newlands in 2006
The most 10-wicket hauls in Tests – 4 (shared with Dale Steyn).

He is also the only South African bowler to take 10 wickets in a Test match at the home of Cricket, the famous Lord’s ground in London.

“It has been a wonderful journey for me to represent my country. I have so many great memories, which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. My career is by no means over; it just means that internationally my time has come to hang up my boots. Domestic cricket is thriving at the moment, and I want to be a part of the set up, as a player, for as long as possible” said Ntini.

“It is also my dream to give back. The Makhaya Ntini Cricket Academy in Mdantsane is gathering momentum, and I am keen to put more energy into the project, and let it be a vehicle for change. I am currently in discussions with CSA about getting involved with their TOMORROW campaign, and give back to its cricket development programmes, which are the same structures I came through.”

Cricket South Africa (CSA) will honour Ntini at the Pro20 match v India for the Krish Mackerdhuj Trophy at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban in January both for his contribution to cricket and for his inspiration to current and future generations that has made him the peoples’ champion.

“Makhaya is the most popular sportsman in the country, and he deserves to bow out of international cricket in fine style. I cannot think of a better send-off, with over 50 000 people expected at Moses Mabhida stadium for this commemorative match. A new era in the Makhaya Ntini legacy is about to be born, and CSA is excited to work with Makhaya, in helping shape tomorrow.” said CSA CEO Gerald Majola.

Makhaya Ntini International Career statistics