Pakistan eye first ODI series win against SA

Teams to play final One-Day International today as Pakistan hope to clinch decider.

Pakistan go into their final One-Day International (ODI) against South Africa in Dubai today, eyeing their first limited-over series win in two years and their first against the Proteas. Pakistan have lost their last six ODI series since beating the West Indies 3-0 in Abu Dhabi two years ago. Since then, they have gone down to Sri Lanka twice - at home and away - and to Australia, New Zealand and England once each. Pakistan were also defeated in a home series to South Africa 3-2 in 2007, going down in the decider in Lahore by 14 runs.

In this series, however, Pakistan have twice come from behind to level the five-match series at 2-2, setting up an intriguing last match, and Afridi hopes his team show further improvement.

“I know we have never beaten South Africa in a bilateral one-day series, so that is very much the aim to achieve and the boys are determined to win this final match,” said Afridi.

South Africa won the first match by eight wickets before Pakistan levelled the series with a narrow one-wicket win. The third match was won by South Africa by two runs but Pakistan once again fought back and levelled the series with a one-wicket win in the fourth match.

“This series is a very close affair, so we need to take all our chances and if we do then we will win the series, which will be a very good achievement considering our recent record,” said Afridi.

Meanwhile, South African coach Corrie van Zyl is optimistic about his team’s chances.

“We obviously want to win the series, but you also want to see which players are available before the World Cup because this is our last chance to play on sub-continent type of pitches here,” said Van Zyl.

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh jointly host the World Cup from February 19 to April 2 next year.

Van Zyl, who took over early this year after Mickey Arthur left, said he was worried about a fitness problem troubling lanky paceman Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

“Injury to Lonwabo is a concern but Rusty [Theron] stepped in and did well.

“We hope we are in a position to field our strongest combination and everyone bowls to his potential.” South Africa failed to defend a healthy total in the fourth ODI amid dropped catches and missed run-outs.

“We’ve got eight new guys, some of them are playing their first away tour so it’s going to be tough for them in a situation like this.

“But the positive thing is the amount of chances we created in the final overs. Though we haven’t executed them well, I think its a good sign for the team,” added Zyl.

With additional input from AFP.

Pakistan fines three players

Pakistan team manager Intikhab Alam said that three players were fined for disciplinary reasons, adding that there remains no tolerance on the rules implemented in the new code of conduct. Opener Shahzaib Hasan, spinner Abdul Rehman and wicket-keeper Zulqarnain Haider were fined DHS500 for breaking curfew timings during the ongoing series. “We have reminded the players that there will be no tolerance on indiscipline and after these three players returned late to the team hotel by five minutes they have been fined and issued show-cause notices,” said Alam. Earlier, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar and Fawad Alam were also warned over indiscipline during the series. While Razzaq was asked to explain his comments after his match-winning century in the second ODI, Akhtar and Fawad have been warned and served a notice by Alam for violating curfew hours on the tour.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2010.