Batsman Imran Farhat watches as his wicket cart-wheels away after being bowled during their Champions Trophy match against South Africa on Monday. PHOTO: REUTERS
BIRMINGHAM: Chris Morris took two wickets on his one-day international debut and Ryan McLaren a career-best four for 19 as South Africa returned to winning ways in the Champions Trophy with a 67-run success over Pakistan at Edgbaston on Monday.
Pakistan, set 235 to win, finished on 167 all out as South Africa made light of the absence of premier fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in winning with five overs to spare.
McLaren's return, which included a spell of four for five in 11 balls, saw him enjoy fresh success at an Edgbaston ground he'd once helped look after while with Warwickshire 2nd XI.
In 2007, the seamer took a hat-trick at Edgbaston for Kent as they won English county cricket's Twenty20 Cup.
Both Pakistan and South Africa needed to win this day/night fixture after losing their opening Group B matches to the West Indies and India respectively.
But while this victory revived South Africa's chances of a semi-final spot, defeat left Pakistan's hopes hanging by a thread.
Pakistan did well to restrict South Africa to 234 for nine after man-of-the-match Hashim Amla, dropped before he reached double figures, made 81.
But the question was whether Pakistan, who'd been bowled out for just 170 by the West Indies, could make a winning score against a South Africa attack missing Steyn, still to feature in this tournament because of a knee injury, and Morkel, whose Champions Trophy ended after he suffered a leg injury against India.
Pakistan's chase stalled from the outset when Morris, a late call-up to the squad after Morkel was ruled out, produced a new-ball burst of two wickets for 10 runs in 19 balls.
The 26-year-old Highveld Lions seamer, struck with his fifth ball when he knocked over left-hander Imran Farhat's off stump.
Morris, who'd previously played two Twenty20 internationals, then saw Mohammad Hafeez fail to get over the top of a bouncer and hole out to square leg.
By the time McLaren took two wickets in five balls, with the aid of fine catches by Colin Ingram and Faf du Plessis, Pakistan were 134 for six off 39 overs.
But Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who made a career-best 96 not out against the West Indies, completed a 69-ball fifty with a straight six off left-arm spinner Robin Peterson.
It was a shot greeted by huge cheers from the overwhelmingly pro-Pakistan 25,000 capacity crowd in Birmingham, which boasts one of the largest Asian populations of any English city.
But the crowd was silenced when Misbah, on 55, pulled a Lonwabo Tsotsobe slower ball to Amla at mid-wicket and the skipper was booed at the post-match presentation ceremony.
McLaren ended the match by bowling Junaid Khan.
Amla was missed on seven when a cut off Mohammad Irfan flew to backward point where Umar Amin dropped the tough chance.
He made Pakistan pay with a typically stylish innings before he reverse-swept off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to Hafeez at short third man.
South Africa conclude their group campaign against the West Indies in Cardiff on Friday, with Pakistan facing arch-rivals India at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Pakistan: Imran Farhat, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Amin, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (capt/wkt), JP Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso, Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) and Billy Bowden (NZL)
TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG)
Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)
COMMENTS (50)
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Again Pakistani players (the main losers Hafeez, Akmal, Malik and Farhat) will try to win against India and will clean themselves by this way and Pakistani people will say no problem we need victory against India only. Thus we will never win big trophy.
@Rashid: Stop blaming everything on india
@Rashid: Guess bookies are stronger than the place and entity providing blessings from the "ONLY" right place.
@Rashid: Well, I think next time while we are praying for a victory we must also pray that the Indian bookies are unable to do anything against us. This should take care of eveything. Right?
All players over 30 years should be sent to rest room
Now it’s time to get rid of the remaining deadwood.These old bunch broke nation hope , should be cleansed by a authoritative committee , too much politics.PM Sharif is requested to look into this state of affairs.
Pakistan defeated because of the following reasons 1) Hafeez is the root cause of all problems. He should drop or should play as bowler rather than batsman. 2) If we compare Malik with his Indian mate or with younger Indian players then Malik will get -ve score (no logic to include Malik). 3) Batting order is no problem at all. Akmal is keeper like Dhoni. I think both have same entry or may be Akmal is senior than Dhoni. Dhoni is on no 6 and he is fantastic but Akmal do,t know the basic of cricket. 4) Farhat has no right to play.
All these four player should be drop and introduce new batsman's because we have 176 million population. Or replace them with Ahmed Shahzad, Afridi, Razzaq and asad shafique. We have only two fantastic batsman's in the history of Pakistan cricket. One is Saeed anwar and second is Nasir Jamshed. Nasir Jamshed should lead the team with young blood. Then our country can win the world cup as well. Otherwise our talent will destroyed because of these four players like in Past Wasim and waqar were destroying our talent due to their selfish and foolish behaviour. although they were great cricketers but after 1992 world cup we never win big trophy.
Despite possessing a superb bowling line up, Pakistan did not deserve to qualify for the Champion's Trophy semi- finals. And we all know the answer for that (other than Misbah there appears to be no other international class batsman in the team). We got rid of Afridi, now it's time to get rid of the remaining deadwood.
@Rashid:
Yay, i was waiting for that post. Thanks for making my day.
You make complete sense.
Farhat, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal need to go... forever!
If batting succeeded balling failed and if balling succeeded batting fail. For Pakistan it is mostly a zero sum game. So why grumble.
Our players are making money. Obvious Dr. Watson.
Very poor performance , they are playing with millions of hearts rather playing Cricket, I will stop watching cricket until Kamran, Sahoib Malik and Imran farhat are there.....
@Maria Pakistan blasted South Africa with 11 fours and 1 six, with playing almost 30 overs of dot balls. Team was there but intent was missing for singles. Match should have won easily as batting was much easier in the second half. Thrilling match, Ohhh I missed it
@Maria: what thrilling match you are talking about, it was all the way South Africans and they won by a wide margin. A thrilling game if you are not aware is the one which is won or lost by a thin margin and not by such a huge margin.
Two in a row. Only one left for a 'hat-trick. Then they can appear on AXN network and display their magical talents. Salams
Shame on Pakistani Batsmen. Embaressing !!! This Selection was not on Merit at all. Where are Hammad Azam, Babar Azam in Team???? Now Kick all out Farhat, Hafeez, Amin, Malik, Akmal's. Select New & Young Faces in Team, Since 12Years PCB cant find any wicket keeper get back Zulqarnain Haider for Allah Sake. Iqbal Qasim, Whatmore, M. Akram & Managment should be sacked. Make Afridi ODI & T20 Captain. This is a Paksitan's Team Not PUNJABI Team. Watch Chak de India learn Moral from the movie.
So Glad I hit the snooze button... zzzzzzzzzz
It is just painful to see the sight of this Farhat get out time and again and again before we haven't really started. This guy has been around for 12 years! Still can't get bat to bowl! For such a mediocre player with such a poor record to still get selected can only happen in Pakistan. Why is Mr.Mirza still in the team? What does he do? Hardly bowls anything and cannot bat. Same goes for Akmal. Throw these bad eggs out of the team. We would much rather lose (and lose happily) with a bunch of young guys in their place then with these 'safarshi' players. At least Umar Amin tried, unlike these useless players.
Just wondering why heading is not saying "steynless south Africa thrashed Pakistan";)))
Dear Pakistanis, the tournament is fixed. The motive is profit maximisation of all the stake holders including players. I will assure you that Pakistan's win over India is already engineered by the bookies. Pakistan will beat India later this week.
Like the State everything else is in a sorry state. Cricket is a reflection of the state of Pakistan. Time to reinvent. Get some spunk into everything we do and not feel sorry for ourselves. Nations go through this, Pakistan has had more then it's share. The fog has to be cleared to get a bearing of our state of well being.
what a disappointmen there is an old saying "Fish stinks from the head".it is time for throw out members of the board appoint new board new selection committee throw out he poorly performing players look for new players after restructuring the domestic cricket structure. Who in his right mind will tour a country with such a poor security situation. Where headquarter of army is attacked bt terrorists. where people even attack a friendly country,s team in cricket crazed city like Lahore. Forget any team coming to Pakistan. develop leagues internally. But I suppose it is too much to expect a radically new thought process.
Unlucky Pakistan, wasn't a hard target to reach, But alas it was not to be. Misbah Ul Haq played brilliantly in both matches, and lead by example. For this he deserves credit.
I have said it on the first match against W Indies. The same thing has been repeated. The Indian bookies have fixed the match for South African to beat Pakistan. What ICC is doing? How on earth a team like Pakistan powered with 180 million peoples' prayer and the blessings from one and only right place can lose two match in a row?
With this sorry batting, they can only aim to win the Gilly dunda tournament. Problem is not the coach but the selectors which keep on selecting s**y players. Selection should be done comprehensively. Bring a solid opener like Haris Sohail or Ahmed Shehzad with Jamshed. Kick out Malik, Farhat and Akmal.
Hey i was there and watched the whole game till the end, I could actually see our team struggling and they put up a good fight unlike team Australia against England. The problem is we havent got any batsmen and thats not teams fault its the fault of selectors who make the team. Our team did wat it couldve done with the assets it had. It was a thrilling match and in the end best team won.
I watched Pak SA Match. I think the team that desperately needs IPL opportunities is PAK. Even more than India.
Pakistani Taxpayer money gone down the drain. Why do we always try to clean the team with an unclean cloth?. PCB selectors are to blame, people like iqbal qasim, jawed miandad etc should resign instead of being sri nawasan (bcci chief) they should resign with to keep honor.
Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik should be shown the door. Otherwise lower your expectations of Pakistan winning any competitive games, in case if you still have any expectations from Pakistani team.
How much publicity "Umar Amin" getting.... I am sure he has some lobby behind him otherwise who else making 16 runs will get positive in a news article.
Politics in team. Hafeez & Misbah can't perform together in one team :)
@Husnain: if you are in the US all matches are live on ESPN3 website.
Worst pak batting performance I have seen in a long time. No confidence....no intent. ......no clue!
When you have same old Iqbal Qasim, Intikhab Alam, Saleem Jafar etc in management positions and when you have same brainless players who got selected on sifarish, don't expect better results
"With a daunting target of 235 runs to chase," 235 is NOT a daunting target. In fact Pakistani bowlers did well to restrict SA to such a reasonable total. It is the batsmen that failed to deliver - yet again.
There is no hope for this team. At this point I'd like to get rid of Imran Farhat, Shaoib Malik, Kamran Akmal for sure. Bring someone from U19 if you have to.
Oh man, how i wish India was the one sending Pakistan out of the competition. That would be so sweeeeeet.. Anyways bye bye Pakistan.
South Africa 234/9 (50 ov) Pakistan 162/8 (42.4 ov)
Pakistan does not have any sold bats anymore. Those who were conspiring to oust Musbah (just like they did to M. Yousuf by losing Sydney test) should eat their words. Except Misbah there is no solid bat in the near future except Asad Shafiq. Kamran and Shoaib must be removed form the team and new players groomed.
whay Pakistan is playing so slow? re boss this is a ODI match.
We are missing Shahid Afridi. Otherwise match would have been over by now.
Pakistan will lose today. Difficult to win from 54/3 in 21 overs
With freeloaders like imran farhat in the team it is unlikely that Pakistan will win.
Einstein said madness is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results...............does this remind anyone of a certain imran farhat ?
Another article in this newspaper quotes Ramiz Raja declaring Pakistan as favorites.Looking at the score below , looks like India Vs Pak at the weekend is going to be a rollover dead rubber match. Pakistan 18/2 (9 overs)
needs good start by openers to chase 235!
This is a must win match for Pakistan. It helps that Dale Steyn is out with injury. I hope that their batting will click today. They really need a good opening partnership.
Ali Khan
live match pak vs south africa on www.websports.info
Imran Farhat again .. :(