On the rain-delayed third day of the first Test at Centurion, South Africa’s Marco Jansen, a quick bowler, helped put a stop to Pakistan’s attempted comeback. At tea, the tourists were 212 runs for eight wickets, with a narrow 122-run lead.
On Saturday, after Pakistan had made a strong start to the day’s play, Jansen got three wickets in four overs to complete a five-wicket haul, while Dane Paterson and Kagiso Rabada each claimed a wicket to give the hosts the lead.
Play was delayed until after lunch due to a passing rainstorm, but both Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam scored fifties to overcome a two-run deficit at the beginning.
South Africa came very near to dismissing the visitors before starting their pursuit of victory, but Shakeel was 66 not out at tea and left with only the tailenders.
In a much-needed comeback to form, Babar struck his first fifty in his last 20 Test innings, and Shakeel carried on from their previous Test match against England as Pakistan overcame South Africa’s 90-run lead in the first innings and attempted to set their hosts a challenging target.
Before they lost wickets and momentum due to a series of careless strokes, they were 153-3 and starting to unsettle their hosts.
Babar had made quick progress from 16 not out overnight to 50, but in Jansen’s opening over, he was tempted to swing at a short and wide delivery and was caught on the boundary by Corbin Bosch.
After gloving a misdirected delivery down leg to be caught by wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, Mohammad Rizwan also gave up his wicket cheaply, going out for three. Jansen’s third wicket of the day increased his five-for, while Salman Ali Agha went behind after driving at just the third ball he faced.
About ten minutes before teatime, Aamer Jamal was ejected for 18 after he was caught by Ryan Rickelton trying to grab a short delivery from Paterson. After nicking Rabada to the slips, Naseem Shah came in without scoring.
Although they have another chance in the second test against Pakistan, which begins at Newlands in Cape Town on January 3, South Africa is aiming for a victory to guarantee a spot in the World Test Championship final the following year.
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