January 13, 2007	Saturday	Zilhaj 22, 1427

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CENTURION (South Africa), Jan 12: Ashwell Prince, South Africa's leading batsman in the past year, anchored his team to a strong position on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan at Supersport Park on Friday.

South Africa were 254 for four at the close in reply to Pakistan's first innings total of 313.

But Prince shared the limelight with Pakistan seamer Mohammad Asif who took all four wickets for 58 runs.

The 24-year-old Asif was playing his first Test since having a doping ban overturned.

The left-handed Prince, who topped the averages in the recent series against India, was unbeaten on 77. He came in with South Africa in trouble at 53 for three and shared stands of 90 with Hashim Amla (71) and an unbeaten 111 with Herschelle Gibbs (58 not out).

Makhaya Ntini was mainly responsible for Pakistan failing to get the total in excess of 350 they had hoped for.

Ntini took five for 83, his 16th five-wicket haul in Tests, as Pakistan paid a heavy penalty for their obsession with hook and pull shots which claimed seven batsmen.

Pakistan self-destructed in a frenetic morning's play, scoring 71 runs in 67 minutes and 12.5 overs but losing five wickets.

Three wickets fell to hook shots on the first day and the trend continued Friday, with captain Inzamam-ul-Haq the first offender.

Inzamam was out for 42 in the fourth over of the day when he hooked Ntini straight to Amla on the square leg boundary. He stood at the crease looking disgusted with himself before trudging slowly to the dressing room.

Kamran Akmal, who made an aggressive 29, top-edged a pull to mid-on off Andre Nel and Shahid Nazir, who could have been out several times in a hit-or-miss innings of 15, top-edged an attempted hook off Ntini to gully.

Immediately after Shahid’s dismissal Rana Naved-ul-Hasan hooked Ntini high to square leg and Amla took a spectacular diving catch but landed over the boundary for the batsman to score six runs.

Danish Kaneria fell to a routine catch at second slip as Ntini took his fifth wicket before Naved was the seventh man to be out hooking or pulling, top-edging a pull for Nel to hold a catch off his own bowling.

The tall Asif swung the ball both ways when South Africa started their innings.

South African captain Graeme Smith, who finished the recent series against India with three successive half-centuries, was out without scoring when he edged a ball that swung away from the left-hander to wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal.

De Villiers followed in Asif's next over when he edged an out-swinger to Younis Khan at second slip.

South Africa could have been in worse trouble if Amla had been caught on four when Yasir Hameed could not hold a sharp chance at gully off Asif.

Jacques Kallis made 18 before he was Asif's third victim, caught at second slip, but Amla and Prince steadied the innings.

Amla was looking in authoritative form as he made his 71 off 152 balls with 11 fours before edging a catch to Kamran when he pushed forward outside his off stump.

While Prince played a chanceless innings, Gibbs showed his best touch of the summer as Pakistan's bowlers looked ineffectual.

By the close Prince had faced 144 balls and hit 10 fours while Gibbs had faced 109 and hit 11 boundaries.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 242-5):

Mohammad Hafeez c Boucher b Ntini 19

Imran Farhat c Amla b Ntini 26

Yasir Hameed c Ntini b Nel 65

Younis Khan c Nel b Pollock 68

Inzamam-ul-Haq c Amla b Ntini 42

Faisal Iqbal c Boucher b Kallis 1

Kamran Akmal c Pollock b Nel 29

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan c and b Nel 30

Shahid Nazir c Gibbs b Ntini 15

Danish Kaneria c Kallis b Ntini 0

Mohammad Asif not out 1

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-6, W-2, NB-3) 17

TOTAL (all out, 96.5 overs) 313

FALL OF WKTS: 1-48, 2-50, 3-183, 4-193, 5-204, 6-256, 7-276, 8-300, 9-311.

BOWLING: Ntini 24-3-83-5; Nel 26.5-3-100-3; Pollock 18-5-38-1; Kallis 15-3-55-1 (3nb, 1w); Harris 13-2-25-0.

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):

A.B. de Villiers c Younis b Asif 4

G.C. Smith c Kamran b Asif 0

H.M. Amla c Kamran b Asif 71

J.H. Kallis c Younis b Asif 18

A.G. Prince not out 77

H.H. Gibbs not out 58

EXTRAS (LB-7, NB-19) 26

TOTAL (for four wkts, 75 overs) 254

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-8, 3-53, 4-143.

TO BAT: M.V. Boucher, S.M. Pollock, A. Nel, P.L. Harris, M. Ntini.

BOWLING (to-date): Mohammad Asif 16-2-58-4 (11nb); Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 9-1-48-0 (1nb); Shahid Nazir 11-1-60-0 (7nb), Danish Kaneria 27-7-51-0; Mohammad Hafeez 11-1-24-0; Yasir Hameed 1-0-6-0.—AFP