October 03, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 20, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 2: Pakistan were left battling for survival on Tuesday after South Africa overcame a batting collapse to take command of the first Test here at the National Stadium.

After losing the last seven wickets for 98 runs that terminated their first innings at 450, South Africa hit back in dramatic fashion as Pakistan threw away an unexpectedly good start to close the second day at a sorry-looking 127 for five with skipper Shoaib (9) and night-watchman Abdul Rehman (1) at the crease.

With batting ace Mohammad Yousuf not around, having opted out of the match, Pakistan have a mountain to climb as they head into Wednesday’s third day still requiring 124 runs to avoid the follow-on mark.

Whatever plans the South Africans have in store, it is likely that Pakistan will find it the going very tough from now onwards, especially keeping in mind that one of their batsmen – Salman Butt – is far from being fit to play his part.

Salman, the Pakistan vice-captain, was absent throughout on Tuesday with a stomach trouble. But according to the team management, the left-hander opener has recovered sufficiently to bat at the fall of the next wicket.

Once the South Africans innings ended in second half of the afternoon session, Mohammad Hafeez and his makeshift opening partner Kamran Akmal survived the pace of Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini in the six overs prior to the tea interval.

The partnership blossomed after the break with both taking advantage of Ntini’s lack of rhythm and Steyn’s strayed direction to score some easy runs. However, the induction of Paul Harris into the attack, on a pitch which is slowly losing its trust, turned the game around.

Just as Kamran (42 off 37 balls, five boundaries) was beginning to gain in confidence against the slow left-armer Mark Benson, the ICC elite panel umpire from England, gave the wicketkeeper-batsman his marching orders to an arm-ball which held its line.

In the circumstances, the 71-run stand laid a decent foundation. But quickly, it became 82 for two when Hafeez (34 off 59 balls, four fours) was acrobatically held low to his right at slip by the brilliant Jacques Kallis and give Harris ample reward for a sustained spell.

Soon it was 84 for three when Younis Khan (6), on whom a lot rested, had no answer to one of Andre Nel’s unplayable ball that hustled almost all along the turf but still managed to crash into the stumps.

Faisal Iqbal soon found that replacing someone like Yousuf is never easy, especially when he was drafted into the XI at the last minute. The great Javed Miandad’s nephew unwisely picked a harmless delivery from Kallis to drive but only managed to drag it onto the stumps.

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s batting hero at the recent World Twenty20 Championship, found the transformation quite strange for someone re-entering the Test arena for only the sixth time after a gap of four years.

But Misbah’s body language indicated that he was shaping up well until a rush of blood caused him to chase Steyn’s well-disguised delivery that swung away enough to catch the edge of the bat. Mark Boucher did the rest without fuss. The departure of Misbah (23 off 57 balls, five fours) meant that Pakistan lost five wickets for 49 runs.

Earlier in the day, Abdul Rehman, debutant left-armer who at one stage had figures of none for 81, spearheaded Pakistan’s comeback by triggering the South African collapse during which he claimed four wickets for 24 runs in 35 deliveries.

After Danish Kaneria had seen off the overnight pair of Kallis and Ashwell Prince to become only the sixth member from Pakistan in the 200-wicket Test club, Rehman came into own. He pouched Boucher as his maiden victim, albeit courtesy of an umpiring error.

Boucher never looked like settling down during his half-hour sojourn, and when he tried to free himself from the shackles, umpire Benson declared him caught behind although TV replays suggested the wicket-keeper/batsman didn’t touched the ball in his attempt to sweep.

Rehman then had Nel only after the matter was referred to the TV umpire Riazuddin who adjudicated that the ball had gone straight to Misbah at silly point without hitting the ground. Harris was taken behind by Kamran when he pushed far forward, but only managed to get a nick.

Then followed a remarkable ninth-wicket partnership during which Steyn negotiated half a dozen scoreless deliveries as de Villiers went on the attack to score all the 36 runs.

Inevitably, it was left to Rehman to put an end to the threatening stand with a yorker-length delivery to rattle the stumps.

The adventurous de Villiers scored the bulk of runs (77 out of 98 during his time at the crease) and was about to accelerate when Umar Gul denied Rehman the rare chance of taking a five-for on debut with a sensational inswinging yorker that thudded onto the off-stump. But the young South African had entertained a sparse crowd to some delightful strokes, including a six off Rehman over the long-on region. De Villiers’ 101-ball knock also featured seven fours. Rehman finished with respectable analysis of four for 105, but Kaneria was well below par and took two for 124 while Umar Gul claimed two for 60.

The South African innings was dominated by Kallis, who started the day on 118, added another 37 runs to post his 10th score of 150-plus in Test cricket.

It was an irony that the master batsman was caught behind by Kamran, who let him off on 36 a day earlier, for a superlative 155 – an innings that lasted five hours and four minutes and included 19 boundaries.

Prince provided leg-spinner Kaneria’s his 200th wicket by offering a return catch after making contributing 36.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings, overnight 294-3):

H.H. Gibbs c Hafeez b Umar Gul 54

G.C. Smith lbw b Hafeez 42

H.M. Amla b Asif 71

J.H. Kallis c Kamran b Kaneria 155

A.G. Prince c and b Kaneria 36

A.B. de Villiers b Umar Gul 77

M.V. Boucher c Kamran b Rehman 1

A. Nel c Misbah b Rehman 2

P.L. Harris c Kamran b Rehman 1

D.W. Steyn b Rehman 0

M. Ntini not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, NB-4) 11

TOTAL (all out, 136.3 overs) 450

FALL OF WKTS: 1-87, 2-109, 3-279, 4-352, 5-373, 6-392, 7-408, 8-412, 9-448.

BOWLING: Mohammad Asif 26-6-83-1; Umar Gul 21.3-6-60-2 (2nb); Danish Kaneria 36-3-124-2; Abdul Rehman 31-3-105-4; Shoaib Malik 8-2-31-0 (2nb); Mohammad Hafeez 14-0-40-1.

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):

Mohammad Hafeez c Kallis b Harris 34

Kamran Akmal lbw b Harris 42

Younis Khan b Nel 6

Faisal Iqbal b Kallis 7

Misbah-ul-Haq c Boucher b Steyn 23

Shoaib Malik not out 9

Abdul Rehman not out 1

EXTRAS (B-4, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for five wkts, 40 overs) 127

FALL OF WKTS: 1-71, 2-82, 3-84, 4-97, 5-120.

TO BAT: Salman Butt, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif.

BOWLING (to-date): Steyn 10-1-37-1 (1nb); Ntini 5-0-30-0; Harris 12-6-18-2; Nel 7-1-22-1, Kallis 4-2-10-1; Smith 2-0-6-0.