LONDON, June 3: Excellent swing bowling from Wahab Riaz and Asad Ali set up Pakistan’s six-wicket victory over South Africa in their Champions Trophy warm-up match at The Oval here on Monday.
The game did not carry full One-day International status as the teams used their full 15-man squads.
Sent into bat, South African managed just 202 for nine in their 50 overs and Pakistan cruised to their target with six wickets and 27 balls to spare.
Asad claimed three for 30 in his 10 overs as he produced prodigious movement through the air early in the South African innings, figures matched by Wahab who bowled an over less.
“It is pretty satisfying, the way Wahab Riaz bowled was the biggest plus for us, but everybody in the top order also scored runs, so we are pretty happy about that,” Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said in a TV interview.
Ryan McLaren (55) and J.P. Duminy (43) were the only South African batsmen to find form as they battled against the moving ball.
Pakistan never looked in trouble in their reply, with opener Imran Farhat (56) and Mohammad Hafeez (54 retired out) laying the platform for victory.
“It wasn’t easy this morning, but I think we got out of it what we wanted. The boys toiled hard and were under pressure. We got over 200, which is a good effort in the end. All the bowlers then got a good run, which was important,” Proteas captain AB de Villiers said.
South Africa begin their Champions Trophy Group ‘B’ campaign against India in Cardiff on Thursday. Pakistan meet the West Indies in the same pool at The Oval on Friday.—Reuters
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA:A.N. Petersen c Rehman b Asad Ali 16H.M. Amla lbw b Junaid 0C.A. Ingram run out 7A.B. de Villiers c Kamran b Asad Ali 15F. du Plessis c Kamran b Wahab 7D.A. Miller c Imran b Wahab 26F. Behardien c Kamran b Wahab 1J.P. Duminy c Malik b Junaid 43R. McLaren b Asad Ali 55R.J. Peterson not out 6R.K. Kleinveldt not out 8EXTRAS (LB-11, W-5, NB-2) 18TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 202FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-14, 3-43, 4-48, 5-61, 6-67, 7-83, 8-177, 9-188.DID NOT BAT: D.W. Steyn, M. Morkel, A.M. Phangiso, L.L. Tsotsobe.BOWLING: Junaid Khan 10-1-41-2 (1nb, 1w); Asad Ali 10-1-30-3; Ehsan Adil 6-1-19-0; Wahab Riaz 9-2-30-3 (1nb, 3w); Mohammad Hafeez 6-0-24-0; Abdur Rehman 7-0-37-0 (1w); Shoaib Malik 2-0-10-0.PAKISTAN:Imran Farhat c Morkel b Tsotsobe 56Nasir Jamshed run out 13Mohammad Hafeez retired out 54Asad Shafiq c Phangiso b Tsotsobe 17Umar Amin not out 27Misbah-ul-Haq not out 24EXTRAS (LB-4, W-8, NB-4) 16TOTAL (for four wkts, 45.3 overs) 207FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-120, 3-150, 4-156.DID NOT BAT: Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Asad Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan.BOWLING: Steyn 5-1-26-0 (2nb, 1w); Tsotsobe 8-0-43-2 (1nb, 3w); Morkel 6-1-23-0; Kleinveldt 7-0-30-0 (1nb, 1w); Behardien 8.3-0-43-0 (1w); Phangiso 7-0-27-0 (1w); McLaren 4-1-11-0 (1w).NOTE: 15 players per side (11 batting and 11 fielding).RESULT: Pakistan won by six wickets.UMPIRES: M.A. Gough and R.T. Robinson (both England).TV UMPIRE: M.J. Saggers (England).