Related Links : Pak in South Africa : Scorecard
The deciding Test match at Newlands has seen just two days of cricket which was enough to set the match up for a finish early on the third day’s play. South Africa are 125 runs short of a series winning victory. But they have lost two wickets which includes that of Boeta Dippenaar and the night watchman, Paul Harris. They do have Graeme Smith in the middle, who has got a start to his innings, batting on 33. So the Proteas must be a better placed team by some distance at this stage with just few runs to get. But you never know what Pakistan can dish out on this bowler friendly wicket at Cape Town.
It was another action packed day just like how the opening day’s play was. The first day saw 15 wickets going down and the second day got slightly better with 17 wickets falling! The Proteas, however, took the crucial first innings lead, which was a morale booster even if it was just the 26 runs. Mark Boucher with an unbeaten 40 with 5 fours and 2 sixes was the man responsible for taking his side to 183 as the Pakistani bowlers wrapped up the innings in just 53 overs. The South African first innings lasted only 14 overs on the second day’s with five wickets going down at the addition of 52 runs. Asif and Kaneria picked up three wickets each.
Pakistan in their second innings could only get 186 on the board, 29 runs more than what they had got in their first innings. They were packed in a little over 51 overs with Yasir Hameed being the top scorer with 35. First innings hero, Mohammad Yousuf looked threatening before he was bowled by Andrew Hall for 18. Pakistan were at 121 for 7, which gave them a lead of 95 and the test match looked good to be over in the second day itself! But a fighting stand between Mohammad Sami, the no.8 and Shahid Nazir, the no.9 gave something to bowl at in SA’s 2nd innings. The eight wicket partnership was worth 55 runs with Sami scoring 31 and Shahid Nazir ending up with a useful 27. Dale Steyn was the most successful bowler taking three wickets while Kallis, Hall and Harris took a couple of wickets each.