Pakistan beats SAfrica to take series to decider

Pakistan beats SAfrica to take series to decider

A 153-run partnership between recalled opener ImranFarhat and captain Misbah-ul-Haq gave Pakistan a three-wicket win over SouthAfrica in the fourth one-day international on Thursday, sending the series to adeciding game.

Farhat made 93 and Misbah 80 to help the Pakistanis to 236-7and past South Africa's 234-9 with eight balls to spare.

The tourists' victory leveled the five-game series at 2-2ahead of a final match in Benoni on Sunday.

Pakistan rode a late scare when it lost Farhat and WahabRiaz within four balls at the end, but Farhat and Misbah had ultimately doneenough.

Towering fast bowler Mohammad Irfan took two wickets withthe first two balls of the match in a rampaging start for Pakistan, and SouthAfrica failed to post enough runs despite half-centuries from AB de Villiersand David Miller, who shared a 115-run stand.

The 2.16-meter (7-foot-1) Irfan sent top-ranked ODI batsmanHashim Amla and Colin Ingram packing with the first two deliveries in his 3-46,and fellow left-arm seamer Junaid Khan and spinner Saeed Ajmal also had threewickets each at Kingsmead.

"That was something. You dream of that stuff,"skipper Misbah said of Irfan's explosive start. "That was a much-neededwin for us."

Pakistan was in early trouble at 33-3 in its reply afteropener Mohammad Hafeez was given out obstructing the field in a rare mode ofdismissal and Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan also went.

Farhat hit eight fours and a six after being brought backinto the team and Misbah collected seven fours and two sixes as the pair tookPakistan to 186-4 and less than 50 runs from victory before their partnershipwas broken.

Shahid Afridi, Farhat and then Riaz were out in amini-collapse before Shoaib Malik (19 not out) and Ajmal took Pakistan home.

"We lost momentum too often today," South Africacaptain De Villiers said. "The boys fought right to the end but we came upshort."

Irfan forced Amla to edge behind to wicketkeeper Akmal offthe opening delivery and bowled Ingram with a swinging yorker next ball to givethe tourists early dominance over an inconsistent South Africa, which is indanger of losing a second straight ODI series.

Graeme Smith went for 12 and Farhaan Behardien for 1 — bothto the other left-arm quick, Khan — as South Africa slumped to 38-4.

Skipper De Villiers and Miller, who was only playing inplace of the injured Faf du Plessis, put the Proteas temporarily back on trackwith their century stand but progress was still slow.

De Villiers made his 75 off 108 balls with five fours.Miller's slightly more aggressive 67 came off 77 deliveries with seven fours.

The pair fell to Ajmal within 17 runs off each other, andIrfan ended Rory Kleinveldt's innings after the tailender started to get goingwith three fours as South Africa slipped from 153-4 to 221-9.

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