KARACHI, Oct 3: On a day when Mark Boucher became Test cricket’s most successful wicket-keeper, South Africa tightened their grip in the first Test against Pakistan after securing a decisive first-innings lead of 159 runs at the National Stadium here on Wednesday.

Pakistan, who were on the ropes at 127 for five at stumps on Tuesday, made partial recovery on the third day to reach a much respectable 291 in reply to South Africa’s impressive 450. Graeme Smith’s men then further consolidated their position by extending the overall lead to 235, ending the day at 76 for three in the second innings on deteriorating wicket.

Pakistan’s fast-receding hopes of making a match of it, however, received a boost in the last hour when spinners Abdul Rehman and Danish Kaneria claimed three wickets in 15 balls between them after Smith and Herschelle Gibbs had put on 41 in their opening stand.

The hosts would have been in a happier frame of mind had both Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince not survived close shaves at the fag end of the day.

Simon Taufel, the ICC umpire for the fourth year running, gave Kallis the benefit of doubt when the first-innings batting hero was struck on the back leg on the sweep against Rehman. Kallis was still at the crease on 18 when the play ended.

Prince (batting on 11) had a lucky escape when Faisal Iqbal ‘caught’ him off Danish Kaneria but umpire Mark Benson turned down the vociferous appeal.

Apart from Boucher’s monumental achievement, the Proteas had another reason to celebrate on Wednesday with Paul Harris becoming the first South African spinner to return a five-wicket haul since fellow left-armer Nicky Boje claimed 5-88 in the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in 2004.

The tall spinner bagged 5-73 in 36 impressive overs, giving some hope to Kaneria and Rehman for the next two days. Boucher and Harris reached their respective milestones at the same time.

Boucher first equalled and then surpassed Ian Healy’s tally of 395 dismissals with a brace of stumpings off Harris.

Boucher’s golden moment of glory arrived when Harris, the impressive slow left-armer, enticed Umar Gul to charge down the wicket and miss the line.

Earlier, Shoaib Malik showed a lot of conviction and courage when he resumed his first innings as Test skipper with his overnight score on nine and night-watchman Abdul Rehman unbeaten on one.

Rehman struggled against the pace and aggression of Andre Nel who nailed his man by switching to round the wicket to the left-handed debutant before forcing home to nick one to Boucher.

Vice-captain Salman But problem on Tuesday, finally showed up at fall of the sixth-wicket. The left-hander, stayed long enough with Shoaib to play his role in the record seventh-wicket partnership against South Africa.

Shoaib and Salman, who launched his first Test innings in well over a year with four boundaries, added 84 to surpass the previous best stand of 60, held by Mohammad Yousuf and Mohammad Sami at Cape Town last January.

Salman (24) lost his wicket after battling it out for 123 minutes when he played across the line to a well-pitched quicker delivery from Harris and was adjudged leg before.

Shoaib surprised many when he threw his wicket in a moment of madness by dancing down the wicket to a Harris delivery that deceived him completely and allowed Boucher to go at par with Healy.

Nevertheless, it was a fighting contribution from Shoaib who battled hard for almost four hours at the crease and hit six fours and one six – off Harris – during his 176-ball knock.

But it was not until Pakistan’s ninth-wicket pair came together that the danger of follow-on was averted; Kaneria, whose batting has certainly gone up a notch with his stint in the English county cricket, smacked Nel for consecutive boundaries to ensure South Africa batted again.

The spinner was still unbeaten at 26 on the other end when Dale Steyn ended the Pakistan innings with a late swinging delivery to hit Mohammad Asif’s off-stump.

South Africa then began their second innings cautiously but the opening pair grew in confidence as both Asif and Umar Gul failed to extract any life or movement from the lifeless track on this third day.

Later, Smith after hitting five boundaries in a brisk 25, edged a catch to Kamran Akmal while attempting to cut Rehman.

At the other end, Gibbs wasted no time in scoring the three runs he needed to become the third South African to join the 6,000-run club. He had scored only 18 when leg-spinner Kaneria had him caught at silly mid-off by Faisal.

Hashim Amla faced 10 balls before Kamran Akmal showed rare agility to have him brilliantly stumped for a duck. It wasn’t a straightforward decision to give on part of Riazuddin, the TV umpire, when Benson sought referral upstairs. After taking his time, Riaz eventually pressed the red button much to the delight of Rehman. But his joy was short-lived as Kallis and Prince dug in to put South Africa in control by close.

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