October 17, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 4, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 16: Helped by centuries from A.B. de Villiers and Mark Boucher South Africa tuned up nicely for the coming one-day series with a crushing 176-run victory over the PCB XI squad at the Bagh-i-Jinnah on Tuesday.

De Villiers hit a 95-ball 113 and Boucher smashed 103 off 106 balls as South Africa piled up 328-4 in the allotted 45 overs against a second-string local bowling.

No batsmen from the PCB XI side could make a noteworthy contribution as the home side slumped to 152 all out in 31.3 overs with Mansoor Amjad being the top scorer with a 37-ball 42 (five fours, one six).

Herschelle Gibbs, who opened the innings with Boucher, went cheaply when lanky medium-pacer Abdul Rauf clean bowled him with an in-swinger for 18. Rauf then quickly accounted for J.P. Duminy for a two-ball duck. But that proved to be the last laugh for the PCB XI as Boucher and Villiers put the bowlers to the sword by adding 165 runs.

Boucher, who cracked 14 boundaries and a six, was eventually caught by Mohammad Irshad off leg-spinner Mansoor Amjad. De Villiers was involved in two other notable partnerships. He first put on 78 for the fourth wicket with stand-in skipper Justin Kemp (39 off 42 balls, two fours and two sixes) before medium-pacer Junaid Zia broke the partnership when he clean bowled Kemp.

De Villiers and Shaun Pollock then added a quickfire 49 for the unbroken fifth-wicket stand. Pollock hit four sixes and a four to score 33 off just 11 balls. De Villiers sent the ball nine times across the fence and once over it during his innings.Despite taking two wickets, Rauf was very expense, conceding 84 runs.

The PCB XI got off to a fine start with skipper Taufiq Umar (15) and young Ahmed Shahzad (35 off 44 balls, four fours and two sixes) sharing an opening stand of 53.

But once they were separated, the rot set in with half the side back in the pavilion with 96 on the board; the men responsible for this setback were Makhaya Ntini (2-16) and Charl Langeveldt (3-29).

All-rounder Morkel also excelled with his brisk medium-pacers to clean the tail with three wickets.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA:

H.H. Gibbs b Abdul Rauf 18

M.V. Boucher c Irshad b Mansoor 103

J.P. Duminy b Abdul Rauf 0

A.B. de Villiers not out 113

J.M. Kemp b Junaid Zia 39

S.M. Pollock not out 33

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-9, W-4, NB-8) 22

TOTAL (for four wkts, 45 overs) 328

FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-36, 3-201, 4-279.

DID NOT BAT: J.A. Morkel, A. Nel, J. Botha, M. Ntini, C.K. Langeveldt.

BOWLING: Abdul Rauf 9-0-84-2 (4nb, 1w); Junaid Zia 9-0-49-1 (1nb, 1w); Mohammad Irshad 9-0-56-0 (3nb); Mansoor Amjad 9-0-54-1 (1w); Taufiq Umar 4-0-36-0; Ahmed Shahzad 5-0-39-0.

PCB XI:

Ahmed Shahzad c Kemp b Ntini 35

Taufiq Umar c Boucher b Ntini 15

Shahid Yousuf c Kemp b Botha 25

Bazid Khan c Boucher b Langeveldt 1

Naved Latif b Langeveldt 8

Umar Amin c Botha b Langeveldt 1

Mansoor Amjad c Kemp b Morkel 42

Zulqarnain Haider b Morkel 4

Junaid Zia lbw b Botha 2

Abdul Rauf b Morkel 0

Mohammad Irshad not out 6

EXTRAS (W-13) 13

TOTAL (all out, 31.3 overs) 152

FALL OF WKTS: 1-53, 2-62, 3-76, 4-88, 5-96, 6-108, 7-131, 8-136, 9-145.

BOWLING: Pollock 5-0-38-0 (6w); Ntini 6-1-16-2 (5w); Nel 5-0-22-0 (1w); Langeveldt 5-0-29-3 (1w); Botha 6-1-25-2; Morkel 4.3-0-22-3.

RESULT: South Africa won by 176 runs.

UMPIRES: Asad Rauf and Zameer Haider.