Ntini spells doom for Pakistan

Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini sliced through the Pakistan top order with a four-wicket haul as South Africa survived a late....

Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini sliced through the Pakistan top order with a four-wicket haul as South Africa survived a late Shahid Afridi charge to record a 45-run victory in the first limited-overs cricket international.

AB de Villiers 103 and Herschelle Gibbs 102 powered South Africa to a challenging total of 294-5 and then Ntini 4-69 took four wickets in his five overs before Pakistan were dismissed for 249 in 46.3 overs. Hard-hitting batsman Afridi 47 off 26 balls and No 9 rookie Sohail Tanvir 26 added a brisk 43 off 25 balls but their effort came a bit too late to stop South Africa taking 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Ntini exposed Pakistan8217;s weakness against short deliveries with Shoaib Malik 18, Younis Khan 12 and Mohammad Hafeez 6 all falling into the trap. Imran Nazir 16 hit three well-timed boundaries before Justin Kemp took a smart reflex catch at short cover as Pakistan slumped to 55-4.

Top-scorer Mohammad Yousuf 53 hit a half century and shared the highest partnership of the innings when he put on 60 runs with Kamran Akmal 35 before Jacques Kallis got rid of both batsmen.

Earlier, a second string Pakistan pace attack failed to restrict South Africa after captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

De Villiers made an unbeaten 103 off 95 balls while Gibbs scored 102 from 128 deliveries as Pakistan8217;s attack struggled without injured fast bowler Mohammad Asif. De Villiers was ruthless in the latter part of his innings when he hit two sixes and two fours in debutant left-arm fast bowler Tanvir8217;s one over.

De Villiers and Gibbs shared a 137-run third-wicket stand off 157 deliveries before a tired-looking Gibbs was run out in the 43rd over when he attempted a second run. Gibbs hit 11 fours and a six in scoring his career8217;s 18th hundred.

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The second game of the five-match series will be played in Lahore on Saturday. Faisalabad October 23 will host the third match while the remaining two matches will be hosted at Multan October 26 and Karachi October 29.

SCOREBOARD

South Africa: H Gibbs run out 102, G Smith run out 34, J Kallis c038;b Afridi 8, De Villiers not out 103, J Kemp lbw Tanveer 1, M Boucher c Younis b Iftikhar 14, S Pollock not out 5; Extras: lb16, nb3, w8 27; Total: for 5 wkts, 50 overs 294

Fall of wickets: 1-85, 2-97, 3-234, 4-238, 5-288

Bowling: Tanveer 9-1-52-1, Iftikhar 10-1-57-1, Gul 8-0-54-0, Afridi 10-0-48-1, Hafeez 10-0-44-0, Malik 3-0-23-0.

Pakistan: Mohd Hafeez c Botha b Ntini 6, I Nazir c Kemp b Ntini 16, Y Khan c Boucher b Ntini 12, Mohd Yousuf c Smith b Kallis 53, S Malik c Gibbs b Ntini 18, Misbah c Boucher b Langeveldt 20, K Akmal b Kallis 35, S Afridi c De Villiers b Morkel 47, S Tanvir b Langeveldt 26, R Iftikhar run out 9, U Gul not out 1; Extras: 1b, 1lb, 4w 6; Total: all out, 46.3 overs 249

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Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-30, 3-37, 4-55, 5-92, 6-152, 7-172, 8-215, 9-246.

Bowling: Pollock 10-2-30-0, Ntini 9-0-69-4, Langeveldt 9-0-53-2, Morkel 6-0-18-1, Botha 7.3-0-30-0, Kallis 5-0-47-0.