Exposed: Pakistan’s Rusty batting

Pakistan batsmen fail miserably for second time in a row as Rusty Theron helps South Africa beat Pakistan.

ABU DABHI: Pakistan batsmen failed miserably for the second time in a row as Rusty Theron took a career-best four for 27 to help South Africa beat Pakistan by six wickets in the second Twenty20 to seal the series 2-0.

Theron’s performance restricted Pakistan to 120, one run more than their previous day’s tally, before South Africa lost four wickets to win the two-match series on a flat Abu Dhabi cricket Stadium.

Graeme Smith (38) and Colin Ingram (31) led the South African reply with JP Duminy (19 not out) hitting the winning runs to complete the team’s chase with eight balls to spare.

But it was their disciplined bowling that sealed the win with captain Johan Botha pleased over the team’s performance. “We didn’t get teams out in Twenty20 previously and to get Pakistan out twice on two days was nice,” said Botha. “Theron bowled superbly and all the guys deserved this win.”

Pakistan’s captain Shahid Afridi blamed poor batting for the series loss. “We needed good starts but that didn’t come in both the matches.

“My own performance was not up to the mark so we have to sit down and plan on improving our batting,” said Afridi, who has little time to regroup before the One-Day International (ODI) series starts today.

Focus shifts to ODIs

With the Twenty20 leg of the UAE series over, South Africa and Pakistan gear up for next year’s World Cup with a five-match ODI series, as captains Smith and Afridi urged their teams to keep focus.

South Africa are in top form after thumping a hapless Zimbabwe 3-0 in a one-day series at home and beat Pakistan as well in a prelude to the 50-over matches.

Smith, who handed Twenty20 captaincy to Johan Botha last month to prolong his career, said development of the side is the key ahead of the 2011 World Cup to be jointly-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“It’ll be the first taste of the sub-continent conditions before the World Cup,” said Smith. “South Africa is keen on the side’s development before the event and are excited to be here.” Smith hoped cricket will remain in focus after Pakistan’s recent tour of England was marred by spot-fixing allegations.

“We hope cricket would be played the right way and it will be cricket that makes the headlines for the performances on the field,” said Smith, whose team is playing in the UAE for the first time since 2000.

Meanwhile, Afridi downplayed the Twenty20 series loss and said that his side was fully focused. “We batted poorly, but we are a good one-day side and if we play to our potential we can beat South Africa,” said Afridi, who added his players were focused and will not let the team down. “What happened on the England tour is now the past and this is a new series and a new challenge for which we are fully focused,” said Afridi.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2010.