ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: South Africa are aiming to be more “clinical” as they go into Friday’s fourth day-night International at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium bidding to even the series.

“We put in a lot of energy in the first three games but I think we need to increase that by 20 per cent because it is a crunch game for us,” South African captain Graeme Smith told a news conference at the heavily guarded team’s hotel in Rawalpindi.

The tourists trailing 1-2 in the series suffered successive defeats at Lahore last week. They narrowly lost the first game by eight runs and the second by 42 runs before bouncing back at Faisalabad with a 13-run win, a game decided under the revised Duckworth and Lewis method.

Smith said that they had to play as if there was no tomorrow. “During our first week in Pakistan we had problems settling down because of the heat but now as the tour goes on, we are adapting well to local conditions.”

The South Africans have all players available for selection and Smith said that they were now fully focussed having put security fears behind them. “Our job is to play cricket and we are concentrating on that.”

While the touring side have a full squad to choose from, Pakistan’s captain Inzamamul Haq, who missed Tuesday’s game because of hamstring injury, is a doubtful starter. “I am not fully fit but even if I am 70 to 80 per cent tomorrow, I’ll play,” he said.

But paceman Muhammad Sami is certain to return after sitting out the Faisalabad match due to a side strain. “He has fully recovered,” Inzamam said. Sami will replace Saqlain Mushtaq who proved expensive on Tuesday, giving away 52 runs off the eight overs he bowled.

Inzamam conceded that slow over rates that led to both sides being fined 10 per cent of their match fee by West Indian match referee Clive Lloyd was a weak area. “It is probably because we have three pacemen but we have to work on removing this weakness.” Lloyd also fined rival captains 20 per cent of their match fee.

Coach Javed Miandad felt that his players had done well this far and said that they would go all out to win the series on Friday. He defended the poor run of scores by opener Muhammad Hafeez who has just 32 runs to show in the three matches.

“Hafeez is an important player although he has not been able to score enough runs, but I am confident that he will come good.”

Meanwhile security in Rawalpindi has been stepped up following Monday’s killing of Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba that led to violent protests in Islamabad. The law-enforcing personnel are on high alert, wary that there could be more protests on the match day after Friday prayers.

Teams (from): Pakistan: Muhammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamamul Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Abdul Razzak, Shoaib Malik, Rashid Latif, Muhammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmad, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Faisal Iqbal, Salman Butt.

South Africa (from): Graeme Smith (capt), Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Niel McKenzie, Jacques Rudolph, Robin Peterson, Andrew Hall, Alan Dawson, Makhaya Ntini, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Adams. Umpires: Darrell Hair (Australia), Aleem Dar (Pak) TV umpire: Asad Rauf (Pak) Match referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies).