The wickets seem to inspire Waqar Younis who followed it up by bowling two maidens in a row. Swinging it away with pace he found his rhythm and made it difficult for the batsmen to score.

Mohammad Sami took over from Wasim Akram and immediately had the wicket of Boje, on seven, pulling a short ball straight to Yousuf Youhana at long leg who came forward to take a good ankle high catch. South Africa 67/3.

McKenzie became Waqar Younis third victim when he trapped the right-hander right in front for four and South Africa 77/4 having lost four wickets for 20 runs in the space of six overs.

Jonty Rhodes, the South African hero from Durban, did not last long, being bowled by Mohammad Sami for one after spending three balls at the crease. 82/5

Mark Boucher lasted nine balls in scoring four runs before he top edged a pull from Shahid Afridi for the keeper to run backwards to take the catch. 90/6

South Africa still had an inkling of a win, but when Kallis chased a very wide ball from Mohammad Sami to be well caught by Rashid Latif diving low to his right all thoughts of a local win flew out the door. Kallis out for 12 and South Africa 100/7 in the 19th over.

To win South Africa would have to record the highest total for a team batting second and winning, beating the 330 scored by Australia against the 327 from South Africa at the same ground.

Gibbs was the first to get the boundaries count started, driving and flicking Waqar Younis to the cover and midwicket rope in consecutive balls in his first over. The consecutive boundaries were repeated in Waqar Younis’s second over.

The 50 partnership came up in seven overs with Gibbs striking seven boundaries contributing 36 runs.

In the eight over Waqar Younis had a very good LBW appeal turned down by umpire Jerling, but three balls later he left nothing to chance getting through the Gibbs defence to cartwheel the middle stump. South Africa 57/1 and the danger man Gibbs bowled for 40.

Nicky Boje came in at number three, where he has scored most of his runs, and together with Smith took the score to 61/1 when Smith, running out of patience, tried to charge Waqar Younis and dragged the ball into the stumps for 18.

Boje (1) and Neil McKenzie (0) were at the crease with South Africa 61/2 when the first 10 overs were completed.

Pakistan passing their highest ever score against South Africa, and the partnership going past the 250 mark has set the stage to what could turn out to be a tremendous game.

A brilliant display of batting from the two at the crease came to and end when Abdur Razzaq tried to hoist a Klusener full toss over long on and finding himself a bit short to be caught by Ntini diving forward for 112 runs and Pakistan losing their second wicket at 272, a partnership of 257.

Yousuf Youhana, with a free ticket to hit, wasted no time in finding the cover boundary off Kallis, lofting the drive over the inner ring. His joy was short lived when forcing the drive at Ntini he played outside the line to have the off stump knocked back for nine and Pakistan 284/3.

The full toss seemed to do it for South Africa with Saleem Elahi slapping a Kallis full toss straight at Pollock at extra cover for 135 excellent runs, scored off 129 balls in 191 minutes and Pakistan suddenly 288/4 with two new batsmen at the crease.

Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan saw Pakistan past the magical 300 taking the score to 333/5, surpassing the previous highest score against South Africa set last season by Australia at the same ground, when Younis Khan was bowled swinging by Donald for 11.

Wasim Akram came to the crease and left one ball later, bowled by Donald off the inside edge first ball up.

The hattrick ball was kept out by Rashid Latif (2) for Pakistan to end on 335/6 and Inzamam-ul-Haq on 36.

The partnership went past the 200 runs in just 131 minutes and 198 balls with 112 runs coming in boundaries and Saleem Elahi scoring 105 and Abdur Razzaq 86.

Saleem Elahi set a personal best passing his previous 108 scored in Zimbabwe and then set the highest score by a Pakistan batsman against South Africa.

Abdur Razzaq continued past his highest one-day international score of 87 against New Zealand to post his first hundred. A chanceless innings that he celebrated enthusiastically by nearly running all the way to the boundary after spending 116 minutes and 111 balls at the crease. The milestone included 11 fours and two sixes.

Boundaries continued to flow to all areas of the ground to help the score to 260/1 with Saleem Elahi on 125 and Abdur Razzaq on 106 with still ten overs to be bowled.

Both batsmen continued their onslaught on the South African attack with Lance Klusener now on the receiving end. Trying to take the pace off the ball and Mark Boucher standing up to the wicket Razzaq was not perturbed lofting Klusener over the long on boundary for maximum.

Abdur Razzaq, not allowing his partner to get away from him, went to his 50 in 93 minutes off 66 balls including six fours and the one six. The two had also broken the all time record second wicket partnership against South Africa set by Dean Jones and David Boon of Australia, and then went on to set the highest partnership for any wicket for Pakistan against South Africa.

Allan Donald replaced Ntini and should have had a wicket with his first ball when Saleem Elahi, on 34, top edged a cut to Klusener at third man. Klusener who had to make a few meters to his left should have held on to a fairly easy catch.

The batsman finding two more boundaries in the over, one a lofted drive to midwicket and the other a square drive past backward point, had accepted the chance given.

The 50 partnership had come up in 38 minutes off 56 balls including eight boundaries with Saleem Elahi contributing 34.

Jacques Kallis replacing Pollock could do no better than the preceding bowlers with Abdur Razzaq taking two boundaries, both on the leg side, off his first over.

Boje made his appearance after the fielding restrictions were lifted but watched helplessly as he also gave away three boundaries in his opening over. At this stage boundaries was coming close to passing singles.

The 100 came up in exactly 100 balls with Saleem Elahi’s 50 coming up at the same time. He only faced 46 balls and had stroked 10 boundaries.

The 100 partnership came up after 78 minutes off 97 balls and included 19 boundaries with Saleem Elahi contributing 64 runs.

Pakistan opened the innings with Saleem Elahi and the hard-hitting Shahid Afridi in the team at the expense of Taufeeq Umar.

After a LBW scare for Saleem Elahi, the second ball of the innings, Shahid Afridi made his intentions clear pulling the first ball he faced from Shaun Pollock to backward square leg.

Makhaya Ntini fared no better seeing his first two deliveries racing to the midwicket and long-off boundaries. Shahid Afridi’s aggression, as it has done in the past, got the better of him when trying to pull the fifth ball of the over he top edged high to Gibbs at cover point to be out for a quick 13 off eight balls and Pakistan losing the first wicket on 15 in the second over.

Abdur Razzaq came in at number three joining Saleem Elahi who was finding the pace of the pitch to his liking and striking the ball with improved timing. He was also not afraid to come down the pitch lofting Pollock well over the bowlers head.

During the tenth over, bowled by Ntini, Saleem Elahi was ruthless stroking four boundaries of the South African paceman.

Was it not for some great saves in the field from Rhodes, Gibbs and Boje, Saleem Elahi would have had a lot more than the 34 to his name and Abdur Razzaq a few more than 10.

With a 40 percent chance of evening thunderstorms and lights that are satisfactory but not brilliant Waqar Younis had no hesitation to bat first on winning the toss. The dew factor at St George’s Park could however cause some problems with the ball later in the evening.

At the moment the teams face a partly overcast sky with a steady southeasterly blowing that will help with the high humidity. The pitch looks hard and dry with a tinge of grass and some cracks at the one end. The new ball will do a bit, but it stays a very flat pitch.

Traditionally the St. George’s Park pitch plays a lot slower and has a lower bounce that should be more suitable to the Pakistan batsmen than what they encountered in Durban.

South Africa team:

Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Neil McKenzie, Nicky Boje, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, +Mark Boucher, *Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini.

Pakistan team:

Shahid Afridi, Saleem Elahi, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Abdur Razzaq, +Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, *Waqar Younis, Mohammad Sami.