South Africa have won the last ten matches against Pakistan. Full stop. But can they do it again? With the kind of form that Pakistan are also in, people are thinking of this one on Saturday as the 'virtual final'. What does the record say? It says South Africa are firm favourites. But who knows?

When South Africa   Matches    Won   Lost  NR   Td   Success %

Batted first            10       7     3     0    0   70.00
Batted last             11       7     4     0    0   63.64

Conclusion: South Africa is slightly better off setting a target against Pakistan, although they have not been bad chasers, either!

Won the Toss             8       4     4     0    0   50.00
Lost the Toss           13      10     3     0    0   76.92

Conclusion: Cronje needs to lose the toss! Akram would like to lose it as well, since Pakistan have done better having lost the toss.

Record in each country

Aus                         1    1    0    0    0  100.00
Ken                         2    2    0    0    0  100.00
UAE                         2    2    0    0    0  100.00
SA                         11    7    4    0    0   63.64
Pak                         5    2    3    0    0   40.00

Record in each season

1991-92                  1       1    0    0    0  100.00
1992-93                  3       0    3    0    0    0.00
1994-95                  7       3    4    0    0   42.86
1995-96                  3       3    0    0    0  100.00
1996-97                  2       2    0    0    0  100.00
1997-98                  5       5    0    0    0  100.00

In the World Cup

                         2       2    0    0    0  100.00

Grand Total             21      14    7    0    0   66.67

The Captains against each other

WJ Cronje               14      13     1     0    0   92.86
Wasim Akram              6       3     3     0    0   50.00

Look at Cronje's record as a captain against Pakistan! No wonder he would fancy his chances.

A summary of the last ten matches between the teams

Ground          Date       Won By      T B SA Score    Pak Score
Karachi      29 Feb 1996    SA    5  Wkts   L L 243- 5 46.0 242- 6 50.0
Sharjah      13 Apr 1996    SA  143  Runs   W F 314- 3 50.0 171- 7 50.0
Sharjah      16 Apr 1996    SA    8  Wkts   L L 189- 2 34.0 188-10 45.0
Nairobi (1)  29 Sep 1996    SA   62  Runs   L F 321- 8 50.0 259-10 42.3
Nairobi (1)  06 Oct 1996    SA    7  Wkts   L L 204- 3 39.2 203-10 46.2
Lahore       02 Nov 1997    SA    9  Runs   L F 271-10 48.0 262- 9 50.0
Durban       03 Apr 1998    SA   52  Runs   W F 280- 4 50.0 228-10 47.4
East London  11 Apr 1998    SA    3  Wkts   W L 254- 7 46.2 250- 8 50.0
Centurion    17 Apr 1998    SA    7  Wkts   L L 149- 3 35.3 145-10 41.5
Cape Town    23 Apr 1998    SA    9  Wkts   W L 115- 1 27.4 114-10 37.1

(T: Toss (W)on/(L)ost, B:Batted (F)irst/(L)ast)

Contributed by: Atul Kahate (akahate@yahoo.com)