Pakistan fine-tuned their preparations for the Champions Trophy with an emphatic six-wicket victory over South Africa at The Oval on Monday.
Misbah-ul-Haq’s team put South Africa into bat and restricted the Proteas to 202-9, before chasing down the target with 4.3 overs remaining thanks to half-centuries from Imran Farhat and Mohammed Hafeez.
To make matters worse for South Africa, there was concern over pace bowler Dale Steyn, who was given only five overs and appeared to struggle with an injury.
Photo: AFP
South Africa will feature in the tournament curtain-raiser against India in Cardiff tomorrow, while Pakistan get underway a day later against the West Indies at The Oval.
Both sides utilized their squads during the 15-a-side clash, which allowed different batting and bowling XIs.
Pakistan were quickly among the wickets as Junaid Khan dismissed Hashim Amla for a duck with the third ball of the day.
The Proteas’ top order continued to struggle against the new ball and when Faf du Plessis was sixth out, they had just 61 on the board.
Had they sent in authentic tailenders, they would surely have struggled to reach three figures, but instead they opted to give all their batsmen time at the crease and were rewarded with a 94-run stand between J.P. Duminy and Ryan McClaren.
That helped the total past 200 before McLaren was bowled by Asad Ali for 55, with Duminy the last man out for 43.
Ali and Wahab Riaz each returned three for 30.
Pakistan came out aggressively, going after South Africa’s much-vaunted seam attack.
Nasir Jamshed hit a six and a four prior to being run out, but Farhat carried on to make 56, before becoming the first of two Lonwabo Tsotsobe wickets
Hafeez retired after scoring 54, leaving Misbah (24 not out) and Umar Amin (27 not out) to finish the job.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS