From this position of enormous strength, they lost four wickets to be staring at a possible defeat at 120 for six at the end of 30th over.

As long as the big-hitting Shahid Afridi (62, off 40 deliveries 6 fours, 4 sixes) was around, Pakistan was really coasting. But Afridi got out slashing to Allan Donald, and that slowed down the scoring rate.

Then Lance Klusener struck twice in two balls to make Pakistan struggle at 118 for five. Yousuf Youhana (22, off 41 balls, 3 fours) holed out to square leg after Inzamam-ul-Haq was dropped in the previous Boje over at long-off by Donald.

Younis Khan was leg before first ball. And as if that was not enough, the next over, Abdul Razzaq lost his off-stump to Boje's leg-spinning delivery. With six down for 119, Pakistan had hit the dire straits once again.

Would they be able to come out of this hole? There is some batting left, with Inzamam and Rashid on the crease and Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram yet to come. And the asking rate was under four thanks to Afridi's assault earlier. But unpredictable as ever, you could hardly make a prediction about Pakistan.

In strode Afridi, and as Pollock bowled three maiden overs out of his first four, he gave the stick to Jacques Kallis, taking 30 runs off his two overs.

At the other end, Shoaib Malik was all defense and straight-batted stuff, until he got out trying to steal a single from straightish mid-on with Graeme Smith's direct throw finding him short by inches.

But it didn't matter for Afridi's unallayed aggression had already lifted the pall of gloom and the South Africans were a bit down in the mouth. A measure of Afridi's dominance can be gauged from the fact that with the total at 49 Malik's contribution was just 12 off 40 deliveries, while Afridi was on 37 off just 19 balls with three sixes and four fours.

He hit another four off Pollock in the covers to raise his 50, then guided Kallis for four to third man; Donald was brought on first change and Afridi showed no respect to him, clouting him for a fourth six at long-off. Next over he stole a single to post his individual 50 (30 deliveries, 5 fours, 4 sixes).

Youhana in the meanwhile seemed to have carried his form of the previous match, and had already hit Kallis and Donald for fours at third man and mid-wicket as Pakistan posted 74 runs for the loss of two wickets by the end of 15th over. With 8 fours and 4 four sixes, an overwhelming percentage of these runs had come in boundaries.

If the remaining batsman keep up the tempo set by Afridi, Pakistan may well get to the target inside 40 overs, and earn the bonus point to make their passage to the final relatively surer.

Both the sides had strengthened their batting, by making two changes apiece, and for South Africa Shaun Pollock came at No 10, while Wasim Akram has a similar position in the order for Pakistan. Strengthening the batting, however, didn't work for the Proteas, in the main because they lost too many wickets too early in the match, starting with the first ball dismissal of Herschelle Gibbs.

Though from five for 49, they recovered enough - because of good hands played by Boeta Dippenaar (55, 89 balls, 8 fours), Mark Boucher (57, 99 balls, 5 fours) and a much-restrained Lance Klusener (28, off 42 deliveries), but the late charge never came as only 50 runs came in the last10 overs for the loss Boucher and Boje.

The Pakistani bowlers remained in control throughout the innings, conceding only 4 fours in the last 10 overs, and just one in the last six.

Dippenaar and Boucher quite considerably revived their team's fortunes with a stand of 78 for the sixth wicket and were getting more adventurous when Azhar Mahmood's throw from deep square leg got the former a couple of feet out of his crease. The breakthrough got Pakistan amongst the wickets again. Boucher soldiered on, taking fours of Razzaq, Younis and Azhar, but Azhar got him in his final over, the waist high full-toss hitting the top of middle and leg stumps.

Akram and Waqar were stingy with runs, and as the overs ran out there were no fireworks.

Pakistan had done the first thing right. Whether they could carry it on till the end of the day remains to be seen. If they do, and in the process finish the match by the 40th over, they might as well earn the bonus point and be almost certain of qualifying for the final.

They were up to the task, and though the scoring barring one Shoaib Malik over which went for 15, was more or less a crawl. But they had added vital 60 runs for the sixth wicket stand off 96 deliveries to take South Africa to 109 for five, giving an outside chance of a fight to the Proteas.

Dippenaar had some slices of luck, surviving a caught and bowled chance by Abdul Razzaq and a run out chance. But he rode his luck and had eight boundaries, three of them in one Malik over, all three pulled between square-leg and long-on.

Pakistan's first-change bowlers Azhar Mahmood (26 for one in 8 overs), Abdul Razzaq (16 for naught in five) and Shahid Afridi (10 for 0 in four overs) bowled steadily, but there were some misfields to help Proteas.

With Malik conceding 15 runs in his only over with some innocuous off-spin bowling, Younis brought on Akram for a second spell, but his only over so far didn't yield any wicket.

South Africa's 109 five may not be a sizable total in the 30th over, but it surely has provided a platform to the remaining three all-rounders - Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje and Shaun Pollock. If they stick it out in the middle with the same determination exhibited by Dipennar and Boucher, Proteas may play out the 50 overs. Something which looked distinctly remote when wickets were falling earlier.

From the evidence of the first 15 overs, it seemed that the Pakistanis wanted to do everything to avoid that eventuality. There was a spring in the steps of the entire eleven. And the bowlers provided them the breakthroughs in abundance early on, and the Proteas were tottering at 50 for five at the end of first 15 overs.

Though Proteas have depth in batting, and they strengthened it further, with Shaun Pollock batting at No 10. But it goes without saying that they lost a few wickets too many.

Wasim Akram struck a major blow first ball, as Herschelle Gibbs chased a wide one outside off-stump, guiding it Rashid Latif's safe hands. Younis got Jacques Kallis on a fuller delivery next over, and the two most experienced batsmen in the top half of the order were back in the pavilion.

Akram nearly had Boeta Dipenaar in his third over after bowling a maiden to Graeme Smith, but the thick inside edge sailed over the stumps and flew to the boundary behind the keeper. But Akram had Smith leg before two balls later, plumb in front playing far back to an incutter.

Justin Ontong took boundaries off Akram and Younis, and was the first to double figures, but Younis had him caught and bowled off a miscued drive to a slower ball. At 29 for four, the South Africans were in deep trouble.

Akram (2 for 13 in 5 overs) and Younis (2 for 27 in 6 overs) were changed after rewarding first spells, giving way to Azhar and Razzaq. A 20-run stand between Boeta Dipenaar, who seemed to be the best of the Proteas, and Jonty Rhodes steadied the innings somewhat but Azhar removed Rhodes to put it back on the rocks.

Earlier, Waqar Younis' rotten luck with the toss continued; so far he has not won any in four matches. Predictably, Shaun Pollock elected to bat on a wicket which was likely to take turn despite the groundsman's efforts to spruce it up. Both sides made two changes apiece: Pakistan bringing in Shoaib Malik and Azhar Mahmood in place of Saeed Anwar and Mohammad Sami; South Africa sat out veteran Gary Kirsten and Roger Telemachus to give an outing to Graeme Smith and Boeta Dipenaar.