Story South Africa V Pakistan: 5 Test series - Pakistan leads by 42 runs

[Cricket_60]

SOUTH AFRICA V PAKISTAN

South Africa and Pakistan have a lot to prove in the cricket world, with both teams not being held in such high regard as they were in past times due to recent poor performances. This series will now be a platform where both Pakistan and South Africa can showcase their more then capable skills with fresh young talent and cunning veteren team members. The South African's enjoy a home ground advantage which makes the task even tougher for the visiting Pakistanis. A long but feirce competition is expected with no clear favourite to take the series and trophy home, we are in for a cracking series...

South African squad

G.Smith (c)
A.B.de Villiers
H.Gibbs
J.Kallis
J.Rudolf
A.Prince
H.Dippenaar
M.Boucher (wk)
S.Pollock
N.Boje
M.Ntini
A.Hall
C.Langeveldt

Gibbs will be hungry for a big score

Pakistan squad

S.Butt
I.Farhat
F.Iqbal
M.Yousuf
I.ul-Haq (c)
Y.Khan
A.Razzaq
S.Afridi
S.Malik
K.Akmal (wk)
M.Sami
S.Akhtar
M.Asif
U.Gul
D.Kaneria

Kaneria will play a big part in Pakistan's bid for victory

Schedule

Warm up match: South Africa A V Pakistan - Newlands, Cape Town

1st Test: South Africa V Pakistan - The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

2nd Test: South Africa V Pakistan - SuperSport Park, Centurion

3rd Test: South Africa V Pakistan - Kingsmead, Durban

4th Test: South Africa V Pakistan - Newlands, Cape Town

5th Test: South Africa V Pakistan - The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Tour Umpires

1) Rudi Koertzen (RSA)
Test matches: 77

2) Simon Taufel (Aus)
Test matches: 38

3) Asad Rauf (Pak)
Test matches: 7

This is shaping up to be one of the best ever series between the two sides, last time it was a victory to the Pakistani's. Can the South African's change this trend and defeat the likes of Yousuf, Khan and Akhtar or will they again crumble under the pressure of the home crowd?

 

[surendar]

welcome back mate with the new story!!!

Looking forward for the great story!!! Good luck

 

[gamerkid22]

nice to see u back .... good luck for ur story ...this will be a good story btw which game?

 

[usy]

pa-papa-pa-pakistan, are gonne win.

 

[Simbazz]

RSA are the better team :hpraise

 

[usy]

No they are not, no team is better then Pakistan not even World XI. oh forgot Zimbabwe are better then World XI.

 

[Cricket_60]

PAST SERIES

South Africa in Pakistan, 2003-04, 1st Test
Pakistan v South Africa
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Umpires: DB Hair (Aus) and NA Mallender (Eng)

Result: Pakistan won by 8 wickets

The first contest out of the two tests turned out to be a very one sided affair with Pakistan comprehensively beating South Africa by 8 wickets. RSA won the toss and elected to bat first and posted a good score of 320 with Mark Boucher top scoring at 72. Gary Kirsten also contributed well until being hit by a rising ball and forced off the field on 53. Shoaib Malik was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4/42 from 17 overs.

Pakistan continued the good run of batting form by posting a tidy 401 all out in their first innings. Taufeeq Umar impressed with the bat, scoring 111 before being caught and bowled by Adams who had a great day, taking 7/128 off 45 overs. The day was a tradgedy for test debutant Asim Kamal, who was bowled by Andre Nel on 99. Malik, Farhat and Moin Khan also all got starts but failed to improve on their efforts.

Kamal fell tragically short

South Africa went into their second innings trailing by 82 runs and seemed to be on the right track at 1/104 before a collapse of the middle order left them reeling at 5/149. Gibbs scored a resilient 50 but was quickly removed from the crease on 59. Gary Kirsten showed spirit by returning to the middle after not being able to open and scored 46 before being caught by Youhana. Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria where the pick of the bowlers, taking 4/36 and 5/46 respectively. South Africa never recovered from their mid innings stumble and where rattled for 241, leaving the Pakistan team requiring 161 runs for victory, something which the Pakistan batsmen had little trouble in doing, loosing just the two wickets and reaching the target in just over 40 overs...

Kaneria bagged 5 in the second innings

Man of the match: Taufeeq Umar, Danish Kaneria
Pakistan lead 2 test series 1-0

 

[kookaburra69]

nice to see you back with a new story.

 

[Cricket_60]

PAST SERIES

South Africa in Pakistan, 2003-04, 2nd Test
Pakistan v South Africa
Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad
Umpires: DJ Harper (Aus) and SJA Taufel (Aus)

Result: Match drawn

The pressure was on both teams coming into the second test, Pakistan where looking to clinch a series victory by either a draw or win while the South African's needed to win to level the series 1-1. Again South Africa won the toss and chose to bat and again Gibbs and Kirsten where the only contributors, Gibbs made a slow but steady 98 before being trapped LBW by Mushtaq Ahmed. Kirsten fell to Abdul Razzaq on 54 and with no other significant contributions the South African's reached 10/278 off 99.1 overs. Shabbir Ahmed claimed 4/74 while Razzaq and Kaneria also chimed in with two wickets each.

Pakistan came out and batted well, over taking the South African score of 278 with their own 10/348, giving them a lead of 70 runs. Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar shared a long 137 runs opening partnership before Umar was caught by Gibbs of Adams' bowling for 68. Farhat broke through and scored a well made century but was eventually snapped up by Peterson off Pollock's bowling for 128. A stubborn 24* from Shabbir Ahmed down in the lower order ensured a significant lead coming into the second South African innings.

Imran Farhat scored a wonderful century

South Africa mae their first big score of the tests with a solid 8/371 dec, which included a deserved century to Gary Kirsten. This time it was Smith who contributed with 65 runs before being trapped by Shabbir Ahmed. Kirsten was the only middle order batsmen who went on to score from a start, making his 118 off 232 balls all the more important. Captain Graeme Smith then saw it fit to declare with a good lead of 301 runs and try to bowl out the Pakistani's.

Kirsten was in good form all series

Pakistan never looked like they where playing for a win but instead batted slowly and steadily throughout the last day to reach 6/242 with Taufeeq Umar top scoring with 71. Despite the best efforts of the South African bowlers the Pakistan cricket team had done enough to ensure a 1-0 victory on home soil...

Man of the match: Taufeeq Umar, Gary Kirsten
Player of the series: Taufeeq Umar

 

[Cricket_60]

nice to see u back .... good luck for ur story ...this will be a good story btw which game?

C2005, I'm also playing for South Africa

Cheers for the support everyone

 

[Cricket_60]

ASIF CLEARED TO PLAY TESTS

Young Pakistani quick Mohammad Asif has been given the green light to play in the first test against South Africa. Asif travelled over with the team but remained under an injury cloud and was doubtfull if he would pass the required fitness test in time for the series. Today he declared himself fit and avaliable to play against the South Africans. This is great news for the Pakistan team, boosting their bowling stocks with young fresh talent. The selectors now face the tough task of choosing between Asif, Umar Gul and Naved-ul-Hasan in the coming series, with only a limited amount of space in the team.

Asif will be looking to force his way back into the team

 

[afridi25]

:Looking good mate. Go Pakistan

 

[GrayNicolls]

Yeah this is looking good. I want whoever you are to win mate! And yeah what game is this on?

 

[treva]

read above he said C2005

great start Cricket60 hope this is as good as your last story and has started fabulously

 

[Cricket_60]

KEY MATCH UPS

Makhaya Ntini V Shoaib Akhtar

These two quicks will be the excitement machines in the bowling department of the tour. Ntini proved his worth in Australia recently by troubling even the best while simply Akhtar's presence and speed will provide substantial support to the Pakistan cricket team. A tough one to call but most would say Ntini on the basis of form and injuries...

Ntini wins out over Akhtar

RSA: 1 PAK: 0

Jaques Kallis V Mohammad Yousuf

Again a very close match up with both men being world class batsmen. Both are also in good form and are an inspiring influence on their team-mates. Kallis' bowling ability is the only factor that swings the balance towards South Africa in this battle...

Kallis is a major factor in this series

RSA: 2 PAK: 0

Graeme Smith V Inzamam-ul-Haq

One of the easier match ups to decide on. Inzamam has proven himself over the years to be an awe-inspiring batsmen and good solid tactician while Smith is yet to do both. Smith has much potential but lacks the stats and form to prove himself. An easy victory for the Pakistan team here...

Inzi will be hard to stop

RSA: 2 PAK: 1

A.B de Villiers V Imran Farhat

Yet another close contest with two young openers being neck and neck on from and talent. de Villiers showed arguably the most potential against Australia and New Zealand recently while Farhat has equally as much. Farhat's main weakness is simply his concentration, while de Villiers often underperforms for his level of talent. No clear decision can be made here...

South Africa's new young talent

RSA: 2.5 PAK: 1.5

Ashwell Prince V Abdul Razzaq

The final match up is also a neck and neck decision, both have proven themselves over the years, Prince with the bat and Razzaq with the ball and a little batting. Both have a lot of experience and are quietly confident within their individual teams. In the end Razzaq's ability with the ball and bat counts for slightly more then Prince's sole batting role...

One of Pakistan's best all rounder's

RSA: 2.5 PAK: 2.5

Going from 5 match ups and 10 talented players we are set for a pearler of a series, starting with the warm up match which begins soon...