South Africa limit Pakistan to 209

Ahmed Shehzad's third consecutive fifty steadied and propelled Pakistan against a South African attack that showed the same discipline, albeit less penetration, than they did in the first ODI. After the early loss of Nasir Jamshed, Shehzad rebuilt with Mohammad Hafeez, and then Misbah-ul-Haq, to give Pakistan a base from which they should exceed the first innings average of 228 at this ground.

Initially, it seemed as though South Africa could keep them within those margins. A quiet first two overs ended with Jamshed falling prey to a short ball, for the second time in the series. He top-edged an attempted pull sending the ball high towards fine leg. AB de Villiers tried to race there from behind the stumps but left it to Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who made good ground and judged the chance expertly, to take the catch low down.

Tsotsobe continued to control the first six overs, cutting off the ball at fine leg twice when it seemed set to cross the boundary, bowling the only maiden of the first 10 overs and causing problems, especially to Mohammad Hafeez, with his angle. On observing the problems Pakistan were having against a left-armer, de Villiers made his first bowling change and brought on Wayne Parnell to replace Morkel.

Parnell dished up the first full ball of the innings and was driven through mid-wicket as a result. Ahmed Shehzad scored the first boundary off the 37th delivery of the match to get Pakistan's innings going. Seven runs were scored off Parnell's first over and the signal had been sent that Pakistan would be more aggressive.

Shehzad and Hafeez went on to pull and drive off both Tsotosbe and Parnell as the pair switched between too short and too full, raising questions about why Morkel was taken off in the first place. Pakistan finished the powerplay on 40 for 1, 32 of those runs coming off the last four overs.

Imran Tahir and Ryan McLaren were introduced after the fielding restrictions were lifted and at first, it seemed neither would be able keep the run-rate down. Hafeez brought up Pakistan's fifty midway through the 12th over, bisecting fielders on the leg side to perfection.

Hafeez had the start he wanted but threw it away when he came forward to McLaren and chopped a back-of-length delivery on to his stumps. It was up to Misbah-ul-Haq to rebuild again. Pakistan crept back into their shell as Tahir found good drift and Morkel was brought back.

Shehzad bided his time and waited to take runs off Parnell, who struggled to find his lengths. His half-century came off JP Duminy and Pakistan will want much more from him as they attempt to level the series.

akistan 209 (49.4 ov)

South Africa

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat

Innings break

• Pakistan v South Africa ODI Series - 2nd ODI
• ODI no. 3427 | 2013/14 season
• Played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium(neutral venue)
• 1 November 2013 - day/night (50-over match)

	Pakistan innings (50 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	Nasir Jamshed	c Tsotsobe b Morkel	1	7	0	0	14.28
	Ahmed Shehzad	c & b Imran Tahir	58	85	4	0	68.23
	Mohammad Hafeez	b McLaren	26	32	4	0	81.25
	Misbah-ul-Haq*	c Miller b McLaren	25	44	1	1	56.81
	Umar Amin	c †de Villiers b McLaren	14	25	1	0	56.00
	Umar Akmal†	c Ingram b Morkel	18	32	2	0	56.25
	Shahid Afridi	c Smith b Morkel	26	20	4	0	130.00
	Sohail Tanvir	run out (Smith/†de Villiers)	9	24	1	0	37.50
	Wahab Riaz	c du Plessis b Parnell	18	24	0	2	75.00
	Saeed Ajmal	lbw b McLaren	0	1	0	0	0.00
	Mohammad Irfan	not out	0	5	0	0	0.00
	Extras	(lb 4, w 9, nb 1)	14
	Total	(all out; 49.4 overs)	209	(4.20 runs per over)

,

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	M Morkel	10	0	38	3	3.80	(2w)
	LL Tsotsobe	8	1	39	0	4.87	(1nb)
	WD Parnell	7.4	0	49	1	6.39	(2w)
	Imran Tahir	10	1	28	1	2.80	(1w)
	R McLaren	10	0	34	4	3.40	(4w)
	JP Duminy	4	0	17	0	4.25

	South Africa team

CA Ingram, GC Smith, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers*†, F du Plessis, DA Miller, R McLaren, WD Parnell, M Morkel, Imran Tahir, LL Tsotsobe