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Proteas have Pakistan on the ropes

Writer's picture: Michael OakleyMichael Oakley

Cape Town is a wonderful place to visit in summer with its white sandy beaches, clear blue water, majestic mountain and beautiful weather, unless you are a Pakistan cricket player ...

For all of Friday and the majority of Saturday the men from Asia weren't able to enjoy their surrounds as they chased leather all around World Sports Betting Newlands as the Proteas reached 615 all out in their first innings of the second Test.

After all that running around the batters then had to go out and face the local bowlers, who were well rested and ready to fire.

Pakistan did well to reach 64/3 at close of play on Saturday after Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen made early breakthroughs but the day, like Friday, belonged to the SA batters, Ryan Rickelton in particular.

The left-handed opener scored 259 runs before finally falling to Mir Hamza (caught by Mohammad Abbas) and left the field to rapturous applause after making his highest ever score and matching former skipper Graeme Smith's best knock for the Green and Gold.

Rickelton and Temba Bavuma dominated day one and on Saturday he found another willing partner in Kyle Verreynne as the wicketkeeper plundered exactly 100 off 147 balls with nine boundaries and five maximums as the pair put on 148 for the sixth wicket after David Bedingham fell for five to Abbas at the start of play.

Verreynne fell trying to clear the rope for a sixth time to a good catch by Aamer Jamal to give Agha Salman his third wicket of the innings but the damage was done.

Jansen, fresh from his stressful, match-winning innings at SuperSport Park, then came out and delighted the Cape Town crowd with a different kind of innings as he smashed 62 off 54 balls (8x4, 3x6) to etch his name in the record books with the fastest half-century against Pakistan by a South African.

Keshav Maharaj joined in the fun with a typically swashbuckling 40 from 35 deliveries (4x4, 2x6) as the home side made merry.

When debutant Kwena Maphaka was bowled by Abbas for a duck the World Test Championship finalists had scored 615 at a run rate of 4.35 and the visitors had to go out and face the music with bat in hand.

Rabada stuck first with skipper Shan Masood caught at first slip by Bedingham for two before Jansen knocked over Kamran Ghulam's stumps off an inside edge for 12, leaving Pakistan in a deep hole at 18/2.

That hole got only got deeper when Rabada struck again, this time forcing Saud Shakeel to nick the ball to Bedingham for a duck and the score was 20/3 and the locals in the stands were focusing more on building their beer cup snakes than the cricket out in the middle as it looked like Pakistan were simply going to roll over and hand South Africa the win.

But nobody told former captain Babar Azam (31*) and Mohammad Rizwan (9*) - who took six catches during the Proteas' innings - as they got stuck in and showed some fight against the SA bowlers.

They will need more of that fighting spirit tomorrow as they know Sunday will not be a day of rest as they start 551 runs behind their hosts.


Teams

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka.

Pakistan: Shan Masood (capt), Siam Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mir Hamza.


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