The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : De Villiers and Gibbs star in South Africa’s victory

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De Villiers and Gibbs star in South Africa’s victory

Makhaya Ntini grabs four wickets

LAHORE: Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini sliced through the Pakistan top order with a four-wicket haul as South Africa survived a late Shahid Afridi charge to record a 45-run victory in the first One-Day International here on Thursday.

A.B. de Villiers (103 not out) and Herschelle Gibbs (102) powered South Africa to a challenging total of 294 five and then Ntini (four for 69) took four wickets in five overs before Pakistan was dismissed for 249 in 46.3 overs.

Hard-hitting batsman Shahid Afridi (47 off 26 balls) and No. 9 rookie Sohail Tanvir (26) added a brisk 43 off 25 balls but their effort came a bit too late to stop South Africa taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Pakistan’s weakness

Ntini exposed Pakistan’s weakness against short deliveries with Shoaib Malik (18), Younis Khan (12) and Mohammad Hafeez (6) falling into the trap. Imran Nazir (16) hit three well-timed boundaries before Justin Kemp took a smart reflex catch at short cover as Pakistan slumped to 55 for four.

Top-scorer Mohammad Yousuf (53) hit a fighting half-century and shared the highest partnership of the innings when he put on 60 runs with Kamran Akmal (35) before Jacques Kallis got rid of both batsmen in his successive overs.

Earlier, a second string Pakistan pace attack failed to restrict South Africa after captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

De Villiers made an unbeaten 103 off 95 balls, while Gibbs scored 102 from 128 deliveries as Pakistan’s attack struggled without injured fast bowler Mohammad Asif.

De Villiers was ruthless in the latter part of his innings when he hit two sixes and two fours in debutant left-arm fast bowler Tanvir’s one over.

He completed his century in the 49th over as South Africa hit 77 runs in the last 10 overs. De Villiers hit nine fours and three sixes in his unbeaten century.

Big partnership

De Villiers and Gibbs shared a 137-run third-wicket stand off 157 deliveries before a tired-looking Gibbs was run out in the 43rd over when he attempted a second run. Gibbs hit 11 fours and a six in scoring his 18th hundred. Gibbs laid the platform with Smith (34) on a perfect one-day batting wicket where Pakistan bowlers struggled to get quick breakthroughs. They put on 85 runs off 88 balls before Smith was run out in a mix-up as Gibbs refused to go for a second run. — AP

SCOREBOARD

South Africa: H. Gibbs (run out) 102, G. Smith (run out) 34, J. Kallis c & b Afridi 8, A.B. de Villiers (not out) 103, J. Kemp lbw b Tanveer 1, M. Boucher c Younis b Iftikhar 14, S. Pollock (not out) 5, Extras (lb-16, nb-3, w-8): 27; Total (five wkts. in 50 overs): 294.

Fall of wickets: 1-85, 2-97, 3-234, 4-238, 5-288.

Pakistan bowling: Tanveer 9-1-52-1, Iftikhar 10-1-57-1, Gul 8-0-54-0, Afridi 10-0-48-1, Hafeez 10-0-44-0, Malik 3-0-23-0.

Pakistan: M. Hafeez c Botha b Ntini 6, I. Nazir c Kemp b Ntini 16, Younis c Boucher b Ntini 12, M. Yousuf c Smith b Kallis 53, S. Malik c Gibbs b Ntini 18, Misbah c Boucher b Langeveldt 20, K. Akmal b Kallis 35, S. Afridi c de Villiers b Morkel 47, S. Tanveer b Langeveldt 26, Rao Iftikhar (run out) 9, Umar Gul (not out) 1, Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4): 6; Total (in 46.3 overs): 249.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-30, 3-37, 4-55, 5-92, 6-152, 7-172, 8-215, 9-246.

South Africa bowling: Pollock 10-2-30-0, Ntini 9-0-69-4, Langeveldt 9-0-53-2, Morkel 6-0-18-1, Botha 7.3-0-30-0, Kallis 5-0-47-2.

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