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Pakistan battle after Philander strike

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  • Pakistan battle after Philander strike

    Lunch Pakistan 49 and 47 for 1 (Jamshed 39*, Azhar 5*) need 433 more runs to beat South Africa 253 and 275 for 3 dec (de Villiers 103*, Amla 74*, Smith 52)


    As he so often does, Vernon Philander provided an early breakthrough for South Africa after they had set Pakistan 480 on the third morning at the Wanderers. AB de Villiers powered to his 15th Test hundred which promoted the declaration, but after the early loss of Mohammad Hafeez there was better resistance from Pakistan's shell-shocked top order.
    Hafeez had fallen in the fourth over when he glanced Philander down the leg side and de Villiers, after quickly swapping his batting pads for keep ones, took a good catch to his left. Nasir Jamshed and Azhar Ali carried the innings through to lunch, showing more confidence and intent than in the first innings. Both collected nice drives down the ground, while Jamshed was also neat off his pads and dominated the scoring.
    Morne Morkel, who went wicketless in the first innings, caused Jamshed some problems from around the wicket and found the glove with a well-directed short ball but the chance fell just in front of Dean Elgar at quite a deep short leg.
    Test batsmen rarely resume in such comfortably circumstances as a lead of 411 after two days play and combined with a flat Pakistan attack it was easy pickings for de Villiers and Hashim Amla as the pair skipped along for 45 minutes.
    In nine overs they added 68 runs and only Smith's eagerness to get Pakistan back in - there is a forecast for rain tomorrow - denied Amla the chance for his hundred.
    De Villiers was at his expansive best, taking balls from outside off through the leg side and also reverse sweeping Saeed Ajmal. His 11th boundary, slotted through the covers, took him to his hundred from 117 balls. The applause had just died down when Smith stood in the dressing room and waved his batsmen in to begin searching for a quick finish.
    Bismillah, alhamdulillah, all praises due to Allah and may Allah increase the honor of Prophet Muhammad and protect our nation from any harm.
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