The Pakistan-South Africa game was just what this World Cup needed after the run fests that have dominated the last few days. A match that turned out to be one of the fairest contests between bat and ball that we’ve seen in this edition so far.

South Africa were rightly considered as favourites heading into the game, and that tag looked more than justified at the halfway point after their bowlers did a fantastic job of bundling Pakistan out for just 222. By the way, I still can’t get my head around how a side that gets dismissed for 222 ends up with a generous gift of an additional 10 runs courtesy Duckworth-Lewis, but perhaps that’s a story for another day. The story at Eden Park yesterday was Pakistan silencing their critics with a rousing performance.

It takes a special effort to defend a modest target, and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq got a much-needed one from his team. Whether it’s the hint of swing on offer, I’m not totally sure, but Eden Park is clearly turning into a happy-hunting ground for left-arm seamers. Exactly a week ago, Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult were the stars of the show and that must have encouraged the Pakistani trio of Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali who finished with three South African wickets apiece yesterday.

Still, the man of the day for me was the man of the match, Sarfraz Ahmed who scored a run-a-ball 49 that got Pakistan off to a good start and then claimed six dismissals behind the stumps – the most for a Pakistani ‘keeper in an ODI. Out of those six, the low diving effort that got Amla was easily the pick of the lot judging by how dangerous the South-African opener was looking at that point.

In a nutshell, Ahmed delivered the performance that made you ask just what were the team management thinking by not playing him from game one? I said earlier that from what I’d seen of him against Australia in the UAE last year, if I had to pick Pakistan’s best eleven, his would have been one of the first names down.

It’s going to be really interesting to see how this surprise result affects the final standings in this group. Today’s huge clash between Australia and Sri Lanka is effectively a battle for the number two spot in pool A. But now you’ve got to wonder how sought-after a position is it, if Pakistan’s win eventually causes South Africa to slip to number three in pool B.

Either way, I’m expecting Australia to ride on the home support and come out on top at the SCG today. The Lankans are certainly not a side to be taken lightly and will carry confidence from their resounding win over England, but so will the Aussies who, albeit against Afghanistan, would have been mighty pleased to have seen their batsmen and bowlers all get a decent workout in that game.

By special arrangement for Dawn

Published in Dawn March 8th , 2015

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