AGENCIES
FATULLAH

South Africa hammered Pakistan to win by eight wickets in their ICC World T20 2014 warm-up clash at Fatullah Wednesday. South Africa chased a below-mediocre target of 72 runs in the T20 World tie in 14 overs with six overs remaining. Hashim Amla scored 24 runs and AB de Villiers remained unbeaten on 20.
Opener Quiton de Cock made 15 while sharing a 39-run partnership with Amla. South Africa lost two quick wickets in space of three deliveries but managed to win the match with six overs to spare. This was the last warm-up match for both the teams in the T20 World Cup. Amla began in bright manner hitting a few fours. But just as he began to find his rhythm, Umar Gul dismissed him LBW for 24 run off 20 deliveries in the sixth over. Amla strcuk four fours in his innings.
Shahid Afridi struck in the next over bowling de Kock for 15 runs off 17 deliveries. De Kock struck three fours in his innings. That brought in David Miller and de Villiers together. They shared a 33-run partnership for the third wicket. Miller remained unbeaten on 13 as de Villiers scored the winning run.
Earlier, Pakistan captain M Hafeez won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan’s innings never really got going as the South African bowlers were on the money right from the beginning. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Beuran Hendricks and Wayne Parnell took two wickets each. JP Duminy and Aaron Phangiso took a wicket each. Umar Akmal was the highest scorer for Pakistan with 17 runs. Sohaib Maqsood scored 15 and Ahmed Shehzad got 12 runs as Pakistan were bowled out for only 71 runs in 17.3 overs. No other batsmen could enter into double figures. Shehzad was first to go off Duminy when he was adjudged LBW. Sharjeel Khan failed again miserably as he threw his wicket scoring just two runs. Shoaib Malik has been proved again the biggest disappointment so far in two warm-up matches as he was out after just scoring a single run off four balls. In first warm-up match against new Zealand, it was also the slow and unsettled batting of Malik that almost cost Pakistan the match before Sohaib Maqsood hit few boundaries to give Pakistan a nervy win.
Last match hero, Kamran Akmal was run out by Wayne Parnell off his own bowling when he unwittingly tried to steal a single which was never there. Hafeez, who came to bat on eighth number, consumed 15 deliveries before getting caught Behardien off Parnell. Afridi, who was trying to check his fitness level in the warm-up game, didn’t hit a single boundary in his nine-ball stay at the crease and was bowled out by Phangiso after scoring six runs. Pakistan used seven bowlers in an effort to defend the meager total but it was never enough as South Africa patiently reached home without any significant trouble. And it was certainly a morale booster for the Proteas who struggled against Bangladesh A team the other day but bounced back in style to crush one of the most favourite teams in event.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:
Ahmed Shehzad lbw b Duminy    12
Sharjeel Khan c de Kock b Hendricks    2
Umar Akmal c de Villiers b Parnell    17
Shoaib Malik c Miller b Hendricks    1
Sohaib Maqsood run out    15
Kamran Akmal run out    0
Shahid Afridi b Phangiso    6
M Hafeez c Behardien b Parnell    7
Bilawal Bhatti c & b Tsotsobe    3
Umar Gul c de Kock b Tsotsobe    0
M Talha not out    2
EXTRAS: (lb 3, w 1, nb 2)    6
TOTAL: (all out; 17.3 overs)    71
FOW: 1-15, 2-23, 3-28, 4-50, 5-51, 6-58, 7-62, 8-67, 9-67, 10-71
Bowling: JP Duminy 2-0-12-1, LL Tsotsobe 4-0-15-2, BE Hendricks 2-1-3-2, M Morkel 1-0-4-0, Imran Tahir 3-0-13-0, AM Phangiso 2-0-13-1, WD Parnell 1.3-0-2-2, JA Morkel 1-0-4-0, F Behardien 1-0-2-0.
SOUTH AFRICA:
HM Amla lbw b Umar Gul    24
Q de Kock b Shahid Afridi    15
DA Miller not out    12
AB de Villiers not out    20
EXTRAS: (w 1)    1
TOTAL: (2 wickets; 14 overs)    72
FOW: 1-39, 2-39
BOWLING: M Hafeez 2-0-9-0, M Talha 2-0-18-0, Junaid Khan 2-0-13-0, Umar Gul 2-0-8-1, Shahid Afridi 3-1-8-1, Bilawal Bhatti 2-0-9-0, Zulfiqar Babar 1-0-7-0.
TOSS: Pakistan
UMPIRES: Enamul Haque, Sharfuddoula