This defeat hurts more than the first Test loss: Misbah
“We made mistakes with our batting and you can’t afford to do that against the top bowling side in the world,” Misbah said. -Photo by AP
CAPE TOWN: Graeme Smith described South Africa’s four-wicket victory over Pakistan in the second Test as one of the most rewarding wins in his 100 matches as captain of the side.
It gave South Africa an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and was achieved in conditions more suited to the tourists on a turning Newlands wicket, with Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal completing match figures of 10 for 147.
“It is one of the more rewarding victories we have had, a really good Test win,” Smith told a news conference on Sunday.
“We were under pressure on day three and we needed two days of big performances and to get that from the guys was special.
“The conditions were challenging, it is not often that a spinner plays such a dominant role in South Africa, so to have come through with the win is big for us.”
Both Smith and Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said the 84 scored by man-of-the-match Robin Peterson in South Africa’s first innings was the turning point of the game.
Peterson came to the wicket with South Africa on 164 for six, still 174 behind Pakistan’s first-inning total. By the time he was the last man out, they had closed the gap to just 12 runs.
“Peterson’s 84 was the game-changer, if we had managed to get a lead of 70 on this wicket and they were chasing 250 runs, it would have been very difficult for them,” Misbah said.
“When you are chasing 180 then you play with more confidence and freedom. We saw how difficult runs were to come for them on this wicket at the end of the innings, so an extra 70 runs would have made a big difference.”
Pakistan were crushed by 211 runs in the first Test, a game in which they were never really in the hunt.
“This hurts more than the first Test, we made mistakes with our batting and you can’t afford to do that against the top bowling side in the world. Today, the way we batted, we should blame ourselves for the way we got out.
“There was a bit of panic in the way we played and that meant we got out. We need to stick to the basic of Test cricket and we didn’t do that.”
The third and final Test starts at Centurion on February 22.
Wonder what Misbah will say after the 3rd Test, writting is on the wall. Most in the team are playing for their spot. Azhar Ali has now insured his place after that personal achievement in the 2nd in innings. Gul, Hafeez as usual continue to disappoint and yet are automatic selection. It’s total disarray.
pakistan played very well and gave good fight,hats off pakistan team
This sounds silly but it will work……Pakistan should have a team of 10 bowlers and a wicket keeper bowler also…..cause our bowlers are much better batsmen than our super hero regular fleet of batsmen…..& they can for surely score more runs also.
Misbah I can feel your agony in defeat..seriously mate. You single handedly played in the Pakistan team benefitting the opposition ..and that has happened time and again..bravo !!!. Perhaps you could spare us more agony by leaving Pakistan cricket altogether . This would be a win win scenario for all of us with the possible exception of RamisRaja, the two of you have a lot in common . People with self respect take respectful actions ..its time to show the world Misbah ..that you will walk from this disgrace of test cricket and you are a man of respect indeed !! Thanks for your services and much success in your future endeavours . May I suggest take up field hockey commentary .. you just might get lucky !
Sincerely
Mike Jackson Sr
We are missing Taufeeq. Hafeez is not a test player period, they need to realize this already. Nasir and Imran Farhat should open the last match. Junaid, Irfan, Ajmal and depending on the pitch Abdurehman or Ehsaan Adil should be tried, no point in playing Gul, he keeps trying to get batsmen to fish outside offstump instead of attacking the stumps himself, that trick will work againsts Pakistani batsmen but not the best batting lineup in the world. Gul was only ever awesome when Waqar was his coach.
Captains Mistake: He did not use double spin attack in the final inning. The pinultimate over given to Hafeez was a maiden and one ball viciously kicked off the pitch. I am pretty sure that spin attack from both ends, would have made scoring much more difficult and even force SA to panic. They almost did.
I think we can derive many good things from this test. Pakistan’s team scored two centuries, a goal not even achieved by SA. The best bowling and batting was done by Ajmal. Tanveer Ahmad was also good at bating, though his performance with the ball was dissapointing. Ajmal won the classic tussle with the number one batsman in the world. However, the pitch of the ball and being on home ground was a key factor in this. SA was playing cricket consistently with all the other top teams (i.e. they have bowled out NL and Australia under 50 runs). They have the best bowlers, even when our centurians were playing, but they were not able to bat when the new balls were taken. Hafiz and Jamshed should have practice on bouncy pitches before the test match. I think that the best team won. It was a good play by Pakistan, and that SA was under pressure for the first time.
We dont need a coach from outside,Yes we need a selection committee from outside,then you will see real team with real results
Misbah is just an average cricketer not capable of leading from the front, his batting and fielding is just average and he completely lacks in planning. Why he selected the third medium pacer who was below par and did not go with Rahman reflects his negative attitude. Had he adopted an aggressive approach Pakistan could have won the second test. If Pakistan has to improve it’s position in international cricket than selection committee must change it’s selection policy and start giving opportunity to young and more talented cricketers rather than selecting players like the captain and few other players in that category. Only Saeed Ajmal, Yunus Khan, Asad Shafiq, Jamshed, Junaid Khan and the new tall bowler deserve recognition for their performance. Misbah must be replaced forthwith as a captain Cricket Board has given a lot more chances then he deserves.
Except Misbah and Asad I did’nt see any other batsman is so far consistent enough. As far as the bowlers are concerned they have not been able to bowl out SA in both the tests, You can’t bowl out a side just with Ajmal and Irfan. Drop Gul/Tanvir/Hafeez/Sarfraz ( they are useless). Bring in Farhat/Adil/Rehman.
Besides bad fielding, no real support for Saeed A from the other end, some bad luck (by losing Junaid), Pakistan also made some really bad decisions when it came to selecting the team for both test matches. For the first game they ignored M. Irfan. Thought they might thave learned from the mistake but they again made a similar mistake by not including A Rahman instead of Tanveer.
I really don’t think S. Africa’s pace attack is very threatning. They are a one trick pony, waiting just for the new ball to take wickets. I think Pakistan really challenged them and if this was a 5 match series, i can see South Africa really struggling against Pakistan. I believe Pakistan is the best sub continent team and if they get some home games they can really challenge S. Africa on the top in next 4-5 years but IF THEY GET home series. Even if they are playing away, they need 5 match series and more tests so they also have a fair chance of climbing up the rankings.
Although there were some really bad performances, i belive Pakistanis should still feel proud of how their team has challenged the best.
Also, looking at Pakistan’s prospective pace attack in next couple of years and with the return of M. Amir, Pakistan can be a favorite in 2015 w. cup.
Imagine Junaid, Irfan, Amir bowling on Australian surfaces. I think history will repeat itself and Pakistan will win another world cup in Australia. inshaAllah.
Umar Gul’s days look to be over. Who will partner Irfan and Junaid in the future. Has to be a right hander.
Basically without Junaid, Pakistan is a one-man team as far as bowling is concerned; they have to find permanent replacement for Gul…this defeat is owed more to selection than anything else..picking a simply non-impact bowlers like Tanvir, Adil instead of Abdur Rehman was a serious mistake..
“This hurts more than the first Test. Misbah” Thanks for the revelation!
No it doesn’t hurt you Misbah because you never play with a heat to win, the team is the best in the world and I hope they drop you before Champions Trophy.
misbah should retire now to make way for future captain. no wonder why saeed ajmal is no. 1 bowler he is the lone fighter in this series so far and no other bowler joins him to topple south African batting order other than junaid khan. Pcb needs to dig deep to find batting talent search.
Please please for god sakes! Drop umar Gul forever!!!! He is completely useless. Misbah please retire, I thought I was gonna die watching you and azher play. You just waste time out there and then get out. :s
Misbah is right.We lost this opportunity due to irresponsible batting.Our fielding is also the factor. Selection of wicket keeper is also questionable.His contribution in batting is badly needed.If he did not contribute in next test his career is over.We should look to find fast bowling alrounders like Umer Amin and Hamad Azam.
Openers are the foundation of an innings but our both openers failed to do that in last two test matches. Both must learn tactics to face new ball. Nasir Jamshed is optional but Hafeez is senior player and our expectations are high from him.
The pakistani cricket team will never learn from its mistakes.So please don´t give all these lame escuses.
I agree
Excpet Saeed Ajmal, Batting, Bowling or fielding, man to man Pakistan is no match to South Africa. There was a time when like most other Pakistani’s I lived in fools paradise, thinking we are as good as any other team, Not anymore!. For quite sometime now, I believe there should be a tiered system in cricket. 1 to 6 Group A. 6 to 12 Group B and beyond that a Group C. This way all the teams would know where they stand and what they have to achieve before the can move up in the tiered system.
You know what you have so called disgusting young guns like Jamshed,Hafeez who can neither bowl nor bat,Sarfaraz Ahmed was batting as if his feet is stuck with glue and no clue how to hold bat in his hand.Such a shame for Pakistan cricket.The lesser said about his keeping and dropping catches ,its better.I am not sure why would you replace Srafaraz Ahmed with 5.63 run batting average with some one like Adnan Akmal who averages 27.48 batting average.Abdul Rahman,I am not sure why he needs to be dropped.He is top notch player in any form of cricket.Aizaz Cheema was very interesting prospect on dead pitches of Asian subcontinent and in Dubai.I am not sure why he should be dropped.
May be you should play with 22 players…11 in each innings and you should be third umpire.. Comon man..it was in interesting test match.. Pakistan team played well…you are always bitter whenever they loose.. and also talk of match fixing and what not..keep the sport clean and be reasonable with your expectations. South Africa is invincible at the moment.
How come it is always after the loss Misbah comes up with excuses. Doesn’t he see his own consistently pathetic batting. Doesn’t he see his favortism when he uses retired bowlers like Rahat Ali and Tanvir. Doesn’t he need to admit a lack of captaincy intelligence when it comes to using other bowlers like hafeez and younis to disturb the opponents rhythm. Doesn’t he know – “He is such a lakeer ka faqir”. Doesn’t he know that seam bowler Anwar Ali was taken to India and never used by him and then not even selected for South Africa. Doesn’ he know that there is a new fast bowler right now sitting in the benches but he preferred to use dead pace bowler like Tanvir. If he knew that lack of home games is costing Pakistan then how come so confident to beat South prior to leaving Pakistan. Problem lies in the system that makes up PCB and the selection comittee. Then you end-up with dumb captains like Misbah. I can’t seem to recall one match any where we may have won because of his direct contribution or intelligent captaincy.