October 02, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 19, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 1: Three missed chances and Jacques Kallis century against Pakistan marked Shoaib Malik’s first taste of captaincy at the highest level on a note of despondency as South Africa dominated the first day of the first Test at the National Stadium here on Monday.

The adage that the ‘sport can be cruel at times’ was well illustrated by Kallis who cashed in handsomely on the two missed chances to make Pakistan pay dearly as the tourists finished a satisfactory day’s work after Graeme Smith had called correctly at the toss.

Kallis, whose unbeaten 118 was his 25th century in 108 Tests, and Ashwell Prince, the new vice-captain, negotiated the final 35 minutes of the day to leave South Africa poised for a massive first-innings total at 294 for three.

But it could have been a different story had Kamran Akmal, the embattled wicket-keeper, held a straight forward catch when Kallis, then on 36, attempted a cut off Danish Kaneria.

As if that was not enough, Salman Butt messed up as Kallis tried to sweep Mohammad Hafeez with his score on 61. Generally, it was not Pakistan’s day since Hashim Amla also benefited from an even costlier miss when Misbah-ul-Haq, returning to Test arena after a four-year hiatus, fumbled an easy offering close-in on the offside when the bearded batsman had barely got off the mark with a single.

Amla later survived a near run-out chance when Salman Butt failed to hit the stumps from a close range.As it turned out, Amla and Kallis got united to put on 170 in slightly over three hours — a record third-wicket partnership in the Pakistan-South Africa Tests, usurping the previous best of 133 by Gary Kirsten and Kallis at Durban in 2002-03 — until the introduction of the second new ball brought a much-needed ray of hope for the home team.

Amla, who started aggressively but was gradually outscored by his partner, was undone by a shrewd piece of swing bowling by Mohammad Asif. Pakistan’s brightest prospect got one to hit the off-stump as Amla shaped to play at a delivery that swung into him before it moved away.

Until that moment Pakistan were resigned for a long haul in the field. But Amla, who slammed six fours and the day’s solitary six — off Abdul Rehman – in compiling an attractive 71 off 158 balls in a stay of 225 minutes had caused enough damage.

Amla epitomized the confidence in the South African camp when he later told a media conference: “We are pretty happy with our effort today. The batters upfront all contributed on a pitch where the ball stayed low at times. From onwards, we are looking somewhere in the region of 500 to put Pakistan under pressure.”

Pakistan found themselves on the back foot even before the toss took place when their most experienced batsman Mohammad Yousuf opted to pull himself out of the series opener citing match-fitness as the reason for this sudden decision.

Smith and Herschelle Gibbs, now restored to his accustomed position at the top of the order, were rarely tested by both Asif and Umar Gul on the flat surface. Shoaib Malik, sensing the benign nature of the placid track, was forced to introduce Kaneria as early as the 10th over without much luck.

Asif, after a seven-over spell, also came off to allow Abdul Rehman his first taste of Test cricket as Pakistan’s 187th debutant and the country’s first specialist slow left-armer since Nadeem Khan figured in the Antigua Test against the West Indies more than 14 years ago.

Both Smith and Gibbs were severe on Rehman who was seldom allowed to have a long bowl and was used in four spells. Mohammad Hafeez drew the initial breakthrough when Smith played down the wrong line and was adjudged leg-before-wicket by English umpire Mark Benson 18 minutes before lunch when the opening partnership had yielded 87 runs.

Smith (42 off 66 balls, five fours) is still chasing his first century for more than two years; his last one was scored against the West Indies in Antigua.

Gibbs (54 off 106 balls, eight boundaries) went shortly after lunch when Hafeez held a sharp chance in the gulley as the 33-year-old right-hander slashed hard at Umar Gul and fell just three short of becoming only the third South African to achieve the landmark of 6,000 Test runs.

But Kallis was not going to rest on his laurels. He duly reached the three-figure mark in 149 minutes and by stumps had batted for 224 minutes and punctuated his 192-ball knock with 15 hits to the fence. He also surpassed Sir Viv Richards (8540) and Alec Stewart (8463) to climb into the 11th place on the list of Test cricket’s highest run-getters.

Pakistan need to regroup on the second morning to ensure the match stays within their reach. A repeat of Monday’s play can be disastrous from their point of view.

Faisal Iqbal replaced seasoned Mohammad Yousuf in the Pakistan side after the prolific batsman withdrew at the last moment due to lack of match-practice. For South Africa, fast bowler Morne Morkel failed a fitness test on his left foot and the tourists preferred the pace of Dale Steyn instead of experienced medium fast bowler Shaun Pollock in the playing XI.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA 1st Inns:

H.H. Gibbs c Hafeez b Umar 54

*G.C. Smith lbw Hafeez 42

H.M Amla b Asif 71

J.H. Kallis not out 118

A.G. Prince not out 3

EXTRAS: (B-1, LB-2, NB-3) 6

TOTAL: (for 3wkts, 90 overs) 294

FALL OF WKTS: 1-87, 2-109, 3-279

BOWLING: Asif 18-5-51-1, Umar 17-5-53-1 (NB-1), Kaneria 23-2-76-0, Rehman 10-1-40-0, Shoaib 8-2-31-0 (nb-2), Hafeez 14-0-40-1

PAKISTAN

Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik (Captain), Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman

TEST DEBUT: Abdur Rehman (Pakistan)

UMPIRES: M.R. Benson (ENG) and S.J.A Taufel (AUS)

TV UMPIRE: Riazuddin

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia)