Umer ton puts Pak in control

8220;A century in a Test match is always special and I am happy that it came against a team like South Africa,8221; said Umer, who also scored a century in Cape Town Test against Proteas last year.

Debutant 27-year-old Asim Kamal made a confident start in Test cricket with an impressive unbeaten 49 and pulled Shaun Pollock over fine-leg for a big six with the second new ball. Kamal and Shoaib Malik 27 not out faced the seamers with confidence in the last hour and added 52 runs in the last hour as South Africa failed to get further success.

Openers Umer and Imran Farhat earlier laid a solid foundation of 109 runs and scored boundaries freely. However, the 22-year-old Umer was lucky not to be bowled on 17 when he played on to Shaun Pollock8217;s short delivery 8212; the bails were not dislodged after the ball hit back onto the stumps off his bat without much force.