Paceman Dale Steyn piloted South Africa to a 160-run victory in the first Test against Pakistan yesterday with five second-innings wickets.
Pakistan -- needing a world record run chase of 424 to win -- was bowled out for 263 just before tea on the final day, handing it a rare defeat at the National Stadium.
No team in Test history had ever successfully chased such a large fourth-inning target. West Indies retain the record of the highest ever chase when it defeated Australia at Antigua in 2003 by scoring 418 runs.
PHOTO: AFP
South Africa led by 159 runs after the first innings, and Jacques Kallis hit successive centuries in the second innings as the tourists declared at 264-7 for an overall lead of 423 runs.
Younis Khan made an aggressive attempt to have a shot at the target, scoring 126 off 160 balls. But once Steyn clean bowled Khan before lunch on the last day, Pakistan lost its last six wickets for 66 runs in the afternoon session.
Captain Shoaib Malik (30) put up a fight in his first Test as captain before being the last man dismissed. South African players celebrated when Andre Nel caught a skied shot as Malik top edged Makhaya Ntini for his only wicket of the match.
It was only the second time Pakistan had lost at the National Stadium in 40 Test matches, with the first one being against England seven years ago.
Resuming at the overnight score of 146-3, Pakistan lost nightwatchman Mohammad Asif (6) in the sixth over of the morning.
Asif tried to fend Andre Nel's short delivery but lobbed the ball to Hashim Amla at forward short leg, giving the South Africa paceman his 100th Test wicket.
Khan, 93 overnight, raced to his 13th Test century off 108 balls with his 15th boundary and hit three more fours in his nearly four-hour stay at the wicket.
Steyn finally broke through Khan's defenses with a delivery that kept low and hit off stump.
South Africa struck immediately after lunch when Nel trapped Misbah-ul-Haq (23) lbw, then Mark Boucher, who broke the world record for wicketkeeper dismissals in the first innings, caught Kamran Akmal (9) at the second attempt off the bowling of Paul Harris.
Steyn struck with the second new ball by removing tailenders Abdul Rehman and Umar Gul before Ntini wrapped up the innings.
The second Test begins at Lahore from Monday.
Australia overcame a century by Yuvraj Singh to defeat India by 47 runs in the third limited-overs international yesterday in Hyderabad.
Having set a target of 291 for India, Australia bowled the home team out for 243 thanks to paceman Brett Lee (3-37) and spinner Brad Hogg (3-46). Australia went 2-0 up in the seven-match series, with the opening match abandoned.
India's battle was waged mainly by Singh whose 121, studded with 12 boundaries and three sixes, overshadowed a whirlwind 89 by Australia's Andrew Symonds earlier.
Singh was beaten and bowled by paceman Mitchell Johnson's reverse swing, snuffing out India's chances of victory.
Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad shared four big wickets as England ended a 25-year wait with a 65-run win over Sri Lanka in the second one-day international in Dambulla on Thursday.
The pace duo built on man-of-the-match Owais Shah's superb 82 as England dismissed the World Cup runners-up for 169 after posting 234-8 to win their first one-day international in Sri Lanka since 1982.
The victory also helped England level the five-match series 1-1, having lost the first one-dayer by 119 runs at the same venue on Monday.
The third game will be played in Dambulla tomorrow.
Skipper Paul Collingwood (42 and 2-31) and Graeme Swann (34 and 2-27) also caught the eye with their all-round performances.
"It was very disappointing to lose the first game. The boys showed a lot of character to bounce back. We were fantastic in all departments of the game," Collingwood said.
"Owais played a magnificent innings, to get such a score on a pitch like this and play the shots. It was a good toss to win. We then took early wickets and put them under pressure," he said.
Left-arm paceman Sidebottom (2-23) and Broad (2-42) troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen with pace and movement under lights to reduce the hosts to a paltry 38-4 in the opening 15 overs.
The hosts could not recover from these blows despite defiant knocks from Jehan Mubarak (44 not out), Tillakaratne Dilshan (29), skipper Mahela Jayawardene (23) and last-man Dilhara Fernando (20).
England virtually wrapped up the match when Collingwood had Jayawardene caught by Kevin Pietersen and then completed the job by running Fernando out.
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