South Africa complete series clean sweep over Pakistan
South Africa’s AB de Villiers (left) runs out Pakistan’s Azhar Ali for 27 runs against South Africa during the third day of the 3rd cricket test match in Pretoria, South Africa. – AP Photo
CENTURION: South Africa completed a series clean sweep when they beat Pakistan by an innings and 18 runs on the third day of the third and final Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Sunday.
Pakistan was bowled out for 235 in their second innings, an improvement on their first innings total of 156.
But the margin of victory and the series result was a fair reflection of the dominance of South Africa, the world champions, playing in their home conditions.
Dale Steyn took four for 80 and was responsible for the run-out of Azhar Ali which sparked a collapse of the Pakistan middle order.
For the only time in the series, the Pakistan lower order showed some resistance and Steyn was frustrated in a final spell of eight overs after tea as the last pair, Rahat Ali and Mohammad Irfan, played and missed or edged the ball out of reach of the fielders.
At the other end Kyle Abbott was unable to complete a ten-wicket haul on his Test debut, finishing with two for 39 after taking seven for 29 in the first innings.
Finally, captain Graeme Smith turned to left-arm spinner Robin Peterson who trapped Rahat leg before wicket with his sixth ball.
South Africa won the first Test in Johannesburg by 211 runs and the second in Cape Town by four wickets. None of the matches went to a fifth day.
An early finish seemed in prospect when Pakistan lost four wickets quickly after lunch to be floundering at 114 for six, but Sarfraz Ahmed (40) and Saeed Ajmal (31) batted enterprisingly and with a modicum of luck to put on 69 for the seventh wicket.
Azhar Ali and Imran Farhat defied the South African bowlers for most of a morning during which only the wicket of Younis Khan fell. They saw Pakistan through to lunch at 87 for two, with Azhar on 27, eked out over 110 balls.
But Azhar did not face another ball before he was run out by a superb throw from fine leg by Dale Steyn after being sent back by Farhat, who had initially been seeking a second run.
Pakistan’s hopes of avoiding an innings defeat crumbled as three more wickets fell in quick succession.
Farhat was caught behind, slashing at first innings bowling hero Kyle Abbott for 43 and without addition to the score Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq edged an away-swinger from Rory Kleinveldt to wicketkeeper AB de Villiers.
Asad Shafiq made only six before he drove Kleinveldt to mid-off. But Sarfraz and Ajmal showed spirit in batting through until tea.
Who says, pakistan batting lacks consistency?? Atleast there is a consistency in the pattern of getting out in all 6 innings… hats off
I just don’t agree with these comments. Our young boys did almost as good or bad as our previous experienced teams in South Africa. In fact, we have the consolation that we tried new faces. In the past over 40 years of test cricket that I have seen, except for a brief period when Waqar and Waseem reigned supreme, when did we ever capture number 1 spot? Tell me where I am wrong please? When we won the world cup in 1992, does anyone remember that our test performances were pretty ordinary before and after the world cup? We had “great” players like Inzi, Miandad, Zaheer, Imran Khan, et al; but as a team mediocrity was the norm and not an exception.
Since the beginning of the series, the body language of our team was not very positive. i believe that we should not give any credit to south africa, because they have a very less efforts in wining the matches, Pakistan team has made everything easy for them to win the matches. A shame ful performance by the team, needs major changes in the team, specially Misbah should be sacked, he doesnt deserve as a player why as a captain of the team.
PCB has to take action on this humiliation. Win or loss is part of the game, but not like these three defeats. It is failure of the Selection Committee . This Selection Committee must be replaced by good experienced, ethical and uniased crickters. Iqbal Qasim should be given hand shake for good.His recent statements show him as dictator and are irresponsible and out of line.
Professionals performing like amateurs. Lack of skill and spine. Heads must roll. Hard work can remove inherent deficiences. Bring in young players and groom them. Look forward.
Pakistan is not able to produce a good opening batsman , after Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, its more than 10-12 years since they have left the team.
Shame on the corrupt PCB officials for their vested interest they could not fine some 3-4 good batsman from a country of 190 million people.
amir sohail was a good opening batsman?? Any records? did he win any matches for Pakistan.
Good Luck next time Pak !!!
In conclusion it is safe to say that Pakistan team is a lot of hype and a lot less substance .
In reality all departments showed their weakness.
Batting : Pathetic for the most part with the streaky exception of Younis and Shafiq.
Our premier opener Hafiz had a combined score of about 30 runs. It seems like he can never bat outside Pak/India/Sri Lanka type of wickets .
Our captain Misbah ..what a hype . He cant even bunt on fast surfaces .No technique on fast bowling , plays scared …and causes others in the team to be intimidated by the opposition bowling. Not much of a leadership trait ..although his political antics are amazing …cricket is hard for him .. he rather play politics in the team . He is competing with maybe Sarfraz or Ajmal for batting credentials as they appeared technically better batsmen. And he has a say in cricketing decisions .. what a crock !!
Bowling .. with the exception of Ajmal and Gul .. nothing close to test standard.
Its time to rethink the helm of this team …no Misbah means one true batsman in the team and less politics and more cohesion.
Misbah pls don’t call up Ramiz and other commentators to make your case ..it seems obvious what a political jockey you are !!
Regards
Mike Jackson Sr
mohammad hafeez is no where close to being adequate for pakistan test team and should not be played in odi’s and t20s as an opener but as an all-rounder coming in at no. 5 or no.6 and PCB must stop considering him as a future captain and look elsewhere for captaincy. How about rolling the dice and appointing Asad Shafiq the captain or atleast the vice captaincy, showed more guts and temprament than the rest of the team combined together. Greame Smith learned on the job too as he had no prior captaincy experience so why couldn’t Shafiq.
The captain and some other senior members should retire or be fired.
The selection board should learn from other cricket playing countries the whole process, may add one or two retired cricketers from other country on the board who would not be bias towards any one (He could at least raise objection or concern to the board as well as to the public when they see ‘pawaas’ or connections are used for selecting a player).
The statements and comments from Misbah and Hafeez are pathetic and shameless, always blaming others for their inabilities to play a good team, may be they should play with Zimbabwe and Bangladesh for a while.
Still I believe that the opposition was not unbeatable. Its the PK weakness which has been exposed badly. Now I am getting the feeling that if PK were to play with AUS in AUS or ENG in ENG, they would get similar thrashing.
Leadership needs to be changed. Misbah is old and defensive. Hafeez is too much nervous and also not a captain material. The bubble has burst now. We need a proper captain who could handle the situation well. Moreover, we don’t need a foreign coach because its a waste of money. Dave Wahtmore needs to be send back to AUS. Cricket is the game in which there is no such role of coach in game plan. It is usually controlled and implemented by captain and players.
My prediction before the series was 2-0 and the third one drawn due to weather. The rain did not come so the 3-0 prediction was correct and also the defeats were due to pathetic batting performances, correct again.
I should be a selector. Kick out all the highly paid cricket selectors and the board.
Pakistan should create absolute turner for UAE home series.You have best of Spin bowlers Abdul Rahman and Saeed Ajmal in world.Give them best turning pitches and turn the table on South Africa.No dead pitches,give them absolute turner for home series and turn the table on South Africa.You will see complete opposite result on spinner friendly condition.South Africa has beaten best of teams Australia and England even in their home condition.It will take some time to settle down with Pace bowling department.You don’t get Amir and Asif every day.So need to wait for future for pace bowling attack to settle down.
we are being too critical on the team. they don’t play much test cricket so lack test temperament. also it is a new team. some key players had injuries. bowling side was all new. else they could have bowled south africa out for a similar score as their own. 2nd test was almost even. pakistan could have won. but it is game of cricket.
hope they do well in short format with which they are more familar.
Get rid of Hafeez umar Gul Misbah.Send some confident home performing openers.Play with Whab Riaz Asad Ali and new middle order batsmen.Otherwise the result is on the wall 5/0 in one days.
With all those ducks Hafeez can start poultry form,
lol.good one
A book can be written about the mis-management & failure of team Pakistan & its masters however in the current series I think team SA is far superior then Pakistani team in all the departments of cricket. Al-through the 3 test matches looked one sided affair. Pakistani players were simply no match to their counterpart. If sense will prevail then PCB will free the old players to go home & instead induct fresh talented young players.
as expected was the rwsult. now its the correct time for the selectors to by by the captain and others who were under perfom. now the team team need some drastic changes. its horrible to see a toothless and agy captain. a ordianary weeket keeper behind the stump and poor batsman like sarfaraz. pakistan need a fresh batch of fast bowlers for the future.
A shameful, humiliating, undignified and disgraceful defeat to say the least.
What’s next? Heads must roll from top to bottom now if PCB wants to save, protect and promote cricket the way it should be in the ‘land of the pure.’
No doubt, the opponents were the best in their class but the way Misbah-ul-Haq and party has surrendered to them is highly unimaginative, totally uncalled for, grossly immoral and absolutely unbecoming of a test playing team. Goodbye test players, welcome club cricketers.
Do you have any other unpleasant, unhealthy, fealty, and shitty words in your doctoral vocabulary that you would like to through? I feel sorry for your patients if you are really are a doctor.
Plenty of errors made in this series.Hopefully it will be learning experience unless it was done deliberately.
Abdul Rahman not being in playing XI was big mistake.Perhaps Ajmal could have been kept only on turning pitches.Abdur Razzaq could have been better batsman with 3 test hundred than Mohammad Hafeej who was biggest disappointment for the series.Rahat Ali looks promising and should settle down in days ahead.Umar Gul and Tanvir Ahmad should not be selected if they have better bowlers.Irfan looks fine in days ahead.Biggest surprise for fans was performance of Imran Farhat with decent knock of 43 when the entire Pakistan top orders were struggling.Taufiq ss opener should be back once he is fit.Nasir Jamshed should consider gaining experience in English and Australian county games to improve his batting and same goes for other Pakistan players who should be playing more matches in English and Australian condition.Adnan Akmal should be back instead of Sarfaraz ahmed who has been flop in the series.Look at Dhoni and Develiiers batting,this guy lies no where upto challenge of modern day cricket.
All
I am indian fan. However. Ajmal had south Africa on the rocks. However. Second innings lower total put by pakistan made south africa to win. Do not blame the Fast bowlers or any body. Allow this team to settle with few changes. You will see the result coming in 2 years
A total whitewash with some non white bits like Hashim, Robbie & Vernon thrown in who showed no mercy. That said Pakistan played well considering the conditions in SA (Saeed Ajmal’s magic didn’t work at all at the Centurion while Rahat Ali came good) and lack of international home matches experience. Nothing to feel ashamed about or sorry for. Had these tests been played at home pitches the results would have been vastly different. Well done boys. Have a good trip back home.
Azhar out and with 107/4 misery of Pakistan Team will be over today. In innings defeat in three days will culminate the well deserved white-wash.
Pakistan ran into buzsaw South African team.no need to panic being beaten by South Africa should be a learning experience.I know they are calling for bload,but thats not the way to go.
I am afraid to say that we will never learn.