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South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st ODI: Hafeez stars as visitors punish Proteas' patient approach

There was a 27th ODI hundred for Hashim Amla but Mohammad Hafeez's 71 meant Pakistan were able to chase down South Africa's modest total in Port Elizabeth.

By Opta
Pakistan batsman Mohammad Hafeez drives en-route to an unbeaten 71

Cape Town, January 20: Mohammad Hafeez guided Pakistan to a nervy five-wicket win over South Africa in Saturday's opening one-dayer in Port Elizabeth.

The experience of Hafeez proved crucial as the visitors claimed a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after overhauling the Proteas' peculiar effort of 266-2.

That score was the second-lowest in ODI history by a side batting first and only losing two wickets, and their patient approach did not prove profitable as Hashim Amla's unbeaten 108 and debutant Rassie van der Dussen's 93 were in vain.

Pakistan appeared to be cruising towards their target when 185-2 with 14 overs remaining, but the loss of Imam-ul-Haq for 86 heightened the tension for an already fragile Pakistan batting line-up.

However, Hafeez's unbeaten 71 from 63 balls, including eight fours and two sixes, saw the touring team home with five deliveries to spare and helped assuage some of the pain of a 3-0 Test series whitewash.

The tone for South Africa's steady innings had been set by Amla and Reeza Hendricks (45) putting on a careful 82 until the latter top-edged a slog-sweep and was held at midwicket.

The experienced Amla continued to go about his business undeterred, reaching fifty from 52 balls with a four behind point off Fakhar Zaman, before Van der Dussen successfully overturned a caught behind decision when he had 26 to his name.

Van der Dussen, who made fifty on his Twenty20 debut, reached his half-century in some style, dispatching Faheem Ashraf over long on, but he fell seven short of a hundred as he slapped a Hasan Ali full toss straight to mid off.

There were no such nerves in the 90s for Amla, who hammered Hafeez for six to bring up three figures for the first time since October 2017.

"It's always nice to get some runs," he said during the innings break. "Last year I didn't get a lot of runs in one-day cricket, so it was nice to get some. It's a tough wicket to bat on, you've got to eat a lot of dot balls up. I think it's a good total."

It did not prove good enough for South Africa, though, as Fakhar's 25 from 23 got Pakistan off to a strong start, before Imam and Babar Azam added 94 - the latter falling one shy of a fifty when missing a long hop from Hendricks.

Imam holed out off ODI debutant Duanne Olivier and when Shoaib Malik and captain Sarfraz Ahmed fell cheaply,Pakistan may have feared a repeat of the batting collapses that blighted them during the Test leg of the tour.

Hafeez held his nerve, however, and along with Shadab Khan (18no) saw his side home from the first ball of the final over.

Story first published: Sunday, January 20, 2019, 11:56 [IST]
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