Boucher anchors Proteas to safety

Mark Boucher hit a valuable 72 to lift South Africa to 320 all out on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan h...

Mark Boucher hit a valuable 72 to lift South Africa to 320 all out on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan had no chance to start their innings after bad light forced stumps to be drawn five overs early.

Boucher batted for 117 minutes and faced 96 balls in making his 16th Test half century. He shored up the innings with two valuable partnerships after Gary Kirsten had retired hurt shortly after lunch on 53.


Shoaib Akhtar looks at Gary Kirsten after he was hit on the nose by a bouncer at Lahore on Friday.

Kirsten, who had just completed his 32nd half century, took a nasty blow on his left cheekbone as he tried to pull fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Bleeding profusely from a deep cut under the left eye, he went off for treatment at a hospital where he had 10 stitches.

Kirsten’s injury turned the tide towards Pakistan with the off-spinning all-rounder Shoaib Malik finishing with career-best figures of four for 42 from 17 overs in his fourth Test.

	SCOREBOARD
South Africa (1st Innings) G Smith c Asim Kamal b Mohammad Sami 33, H Gibbs c Taufeeq Umar b Danish Kaneria 27, G Kirsten rtd hurt 53, J Kallis c Moin Khan b Danish Kaneria 29, B Dippenaar c Imran Farhat b Shoaib Malik 24, N McKenzie lbw Shoaib Akhtar 0, M Boucher c Imran Farhat b Shoaib Malik 72, S Pollock b Shoaib Malik 28, P Adams not out 18, A Nel lbw Shoaib Akhtar 0, M Ntini c Asim Kamal b Shoaib Malik 8 Extras: (lb-5, nb-23): 28 Total: (All out) 320 Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-84, 3-154, 4-159, 5-229, 6-282, 7-302, 8-307, 9-320 Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 14-1-62-2, Mohammad Sami 13-2-66-1, Mushtaq Ahmed 18-1-80-0, Danish Kaneria 21-2-65-2, Shoaib Malik 17-4-42-4

In Odisha, Modi mounts ‘loot tantra-vs-bachat utsav’ attack on Congress over GST

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