Story Pakistan in South Africa (BLIC)

[madmick96]

Can Pakistan do it?

Malik has taken 2 quick wickets and almost had a hat trick, the first wicket was a pretty bad ball and probably deserved to go to the boundary which Dippenaar tried to do, the ball drifted wide where Dippenaar when for the big square slog but just popped it up high for Butt to catch it at the boundary again, dismissing Dippenaar for 24, the batsman had crossed already when it was up in the air so Prince was now on strike.

Malik with stronger determination, threw and whooping 100 km/h ball onto the line of off-stump where Prince tried to drive it to the off-side but went too late and resulted in a thick edge right back to Malik and gave away his wicket for a boring and cheap 3. Pollock is now at the crease facing hat trick ball, Malik bowled a doosra which fooled Pollock and made him edge into the slip cordon but there were no slip fielders, what a shame that could have been the match for Pakistan.

South Africa are 5-219 after 37 overs.

 

[madmick96]

wow looks like SAF will put up a huge total here! good luck mick! who are you playing as?

thx 4 ur replys evry1 and im playing as SAF

 

[madmick96]

Kaneria does it again

As feared one wicket can cause a batting collapse, this time Boucher has been dismissed for a *useful* 1 (5) by Kaneria, Kaneria bowled a flipper which landed wide of off-stump and skidded quickly but Boucher went for the shot anyway and played it too late, this just made the ball fly at lightspeed to the leg-side area of the in-field where Yousuf took a few steps and dived to take a terrific catch giving Kaneria his second wicket and bringing Pakistan slightly closer to victory. Van Der Wath came to the crease and Kaneria bowled a very noticable googly which was going to spin wide but Van Der Wath just cracked it for a massive six over mid-off.

South Africa are 6-225 after 38 overs.

 

[madmick96]

Pefect timing

Razzaq has taken his first wicket at the perfect time of the match, Razzaq bowled a good length ball to the body of Pollock which was considerably quicker than his previous balls, this made Pollock to go for the big shot but mis-timed it and hit it to square leg where Khan took the catch comfortably in mid air. Boje is now in, these two remaining batsman have the potential to win this match for South Africa, if they get out it could be all over.

South Africa are 7-234 after 39 overs.

 

[sami007]

woops spoke too soon! SAF will be lucky to get to 300

 

[madmick96]

5 Overs to go

Can Pakistan do it? They only need 3 more wickets and Boje is looking very vulnerable with the return of Sami and Naved Ul Hasun and Van Der Wath is hitting nicely with the pace bowlers, what would happen of the skipper put Afridi or Malik on or possibly himself? Pakistan don't even need to take wickets just bowl yorkers and keep the runs off for 5 overs than they will win, simple as that but Van Der Wath is the danger man here and he is looking to guide South Africa home.

 

[madmick96]

Sami gives hope

Sami has dismissed danger man, Johan Van Der Wath leg before wicket for 14 (25) with a beauty, Sami bowled some normal paced deliveries over the wicket before switching sides letting out a much quicker ball, clocked at 151 km/h which seemed to be drifting wide but then cut back straight into the right hander, Van Der Wath reacted to early and already but his bat to the right but the ball then hit his front pad while swinging back in. Ntini is now in, is it all over for South Africa?

South Africa 8-248 after 46 overs.

 

[madmick96]

9 down, 1 to go

Rana Naved Ul Hasun has taken his first by uprooting Ntini's middle stump from around him, the ball seemed to drift wide but swung slightly back in just enough to hit the stumps, it landed at a good length where Ntini mis-timed his stroke and the ball uprooted his middle-stump. High hopes for Pakistan, despair for South Africa but keep in mind a boundary would draw the match and a six would win the series by one run.

South Africa are 9-249 after 47 overs.

 

[The Blazer]

Come on Pakistan!! :happy
Great work by The Beast to get the wicket of Smith that exposed the rest of the batting order! What a comeback!

 

[madmick96]

Despair for South Africa

The most unlikely result has occurred in this third deciding ODI between South Africa and Pakistan. In Sami's last over, Boje and Steyn managed to make 3 runs come off it in singles, bringing South Africa to only needing 2 runs to win. But then came Naved Ul Hasun, he unfortunately added 1 run to the South African total with a wide, this gave South Africa two options, attack for the victory or defend for the draw as the scores are now tied. The best result for Pakistan is a draw and thats what Naved Ul Hasun gave them, the very next ball was swung at but Steyn missed it, the third ball of the over ended Steyn's innings and drew the ODI series 1-1. The ball pitched in line with middle-stump at a good length and after it bounced it skidded off the pitch, in favour of the bowler, Steyn stuck out his bat but mis-judged the speed of the ball and let the ball through to pop out his middle-stump.

The Man of the Match is Danish Kaneria for a good knock by a tail-ender of 10 and taking 2-26.

The Man of the Series is Shoaib Malik for making a massive 279 runs in only 3 One-Dayers and taking an overall 4-41 in the series.

And here's me interviewing him after the match:
Mick - You seem to be in the best form of your life after scoring 279 runs in 3 ODI's and a pretty good bowling performance of 4-41 in this series, how did you do it?
Malik - Well, I don't really know but I sound pretty good, so I think its the practice.
Mick - This probably won't put much pressure on you going into the test series but the test series are now the matches that will mentally decide your team's tour to South Africa.
Malik - Well, there's always pressure in any match but there is less pressure on me because of my good performances.
Mick - Okay then, nice talking to you and good luck in the test series, cheers.

Press Conference:
Graeme Smith: I'm pretty disappointed, we got there in the end but just couldn't brace the moment where we could have snatched victory, we did much better against Australia. We are ranked as the second best one day nation in the world so I don't we should of drew this one day series. Now there would be much more pressure on us to win the test series because Pakistan is the more superior test nation, but we have the home ground advantage and we're not playing against Australia or India so it's still possible, but I'm not saying winning against India or Australia isn't impossible.

Inzamam-Ul-Haq: If Naved Ul Hasun didn't bowl that wide then I believe we could have won this decider but it was not to be. The test series should have some draws and losses but I think we gonna scrape through because we have the mental edge of being the superior test team.

So the One Day series is levelled 1-1, the upcoming test series will truly decide which one of these great international teams are more superior, thank you for your company everyone, until next time, good night.

 

[Short Leg]

Fantastic series capped off with a rare tie thanks to Rana Naved

 

[sami007]

wow exciting stuff! Good job for Pakistan!

 

[Pak_cricketer]

Fantastic stuff!

 

[madmick96]

First Test preperations

Pakistan Lineup:
Imran Farhat
Kamran Akmal
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Shoaib Malik
Shahid Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Umar Gul
Shoaib Akhtar
Danish Kaneria

There are a few suprises in the Pakistani lineup with Shoaib Malik in and Faisal Iqbal out and Mohammad Asif out and Umar Gul in, it's probably because its the first test match and you can experiment a little.


South Africa Lineup:
Graeme Smith
Abraham DeVilliers
Jacques Kallis
Herschelle Gibbs
Ashwell Prince
Jacques Rudolph
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Nicky Boje
Makhaya Ntini
Dale Steyn

As Andre Nel is still having problems with his ankle after falling over again, this time in the shower, Dale Steyn will be replacing him once again, Steyn has been pretty impressive in South Africa's recent tour of New Zealand. But the real danger man for Pakistan is fast bowler, Makhaya Ntini who is currently ranked second best test bowler, he has the potential to rip through the Australian top order and he can do it to Pakistan too.

Pitch Report:
The first test will be played at The Wanderers in Johannesburg, the pitch is expected to be normal, nothing too good for batsman or bowlers, decent bounce and okay conditions for spin, swing and pace. But the weather forecast is predicting for it to be overcast and rain

 

[The Blazer]

Hmm, interesting to see Shoaib Malik so far down the order. Let's see how he performs...