JL Ontong of South Africa Invitation XI thwarted Pakistan’s bid to victory on the last day of the four-day tour match at Buffalo Park, East London in South Africa.After setting a victory target of 322, Pakistan pacers flexed their wicket taking muscles and removed the Invitation XI’s top order quickly. Pakistan pacers M Irfan, Junaid Khan and Umer Gul removed the top four batsmen when the score was 101. Junaid broke the opening pair when he removed A Puttick for seven runs on a total of 26. Then Gul clean bowled S van Zyl who also scored seven runs.

Then Irfan struck twice to remove D Jacobs (36) and C Chetty (29) and Invitation XI were 101-4 in 24.6 overs. At this stage, Pakistan were sensing a victory, but first innings top scorer for Invitation XI V van Jaarsveld and Ontong denied Pakistan for long until Saeed Ajmal broke the 45-run partnership when he caught Jaarsveld off his own bowling in 39th over just before the tea. Jaarsveld made 43 runs on 55 balls including seven boundaries. Invitation XI were 146-5 on tea break.

After the tea break, Ontong carried the momentum and continued to defy Pakistan. Wicket-keeper batsman D Vilas also supported him patiently as he scored eight runs on 39 balls. Ontong was aggressive against Pakistan spinners M Hafeez and Ajmal and reached his fifty with a six off Ajmal’s over which also proved the last one of the match as bad light brought an early end to the last day’s affair. Ontong was unbeaten on 51 off 83 balls including five boundaries and a six. When the match was halted due to bad light Invitation XI were 190-5 in 50 overs.

Earlier, Pakistan lost four quick wickets just for 10 runs when they resumed their innings on overnight total of 240-5. Sarfraz Ahmed was adjudged lbw without adding any score to his overnight total of 19 off Abbott’s bowling. Abbott then clean bowled captain Misbah-ul-Haq for 55 runs. Then Hendricks removed Ajmal. Abott struck again to remove Gul and Pakistan declared their innings on 250-9, setting a victory target of 323 for Invitation XI.

scoreboard

PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS: 329
SA INVITATION XI 1ST INNINGS: 257
PAKISTAN 2ND INNINGS:
(OVERNIGHT: 240-5)
M Hafeez c Vilas b van Zyl 83
Nasir Jamshed b Abbott 51
Azhar Ali c Vilas b Parnell 3
Younus Khan c Vilas b van Jaarsveld 14
Misbah-ul-Haq b Abbott 55
Asad Shafiq c Vilas b Harmer 11
Sarfraz Ahmed lbw b Abbott 19
Umar Gul b Abbott 6
Saeed Ajmal b Hendricks 0
Junaid Khan not out 0
EXTRAS: (lb 1, nb 7) 8
TOTAL: (9 wickets dec; 84.4 overs) 250
FOW: 1-142, 2-142, 3-147, 4-176, 5-191, 6-240, 7-247, 8-250, 9-250
BOWLING: K Abbott 13.4-5-26-4, B Hendricks 13-4-40-1, S Harmer 25-0-112-1, W Parnell 10-0-35-1, S van Zyl 10-6-16-1, V van Jaarsveld 11-6-17-1, J Ontong 2-0-3-0
SA INVITATION XI 2ND INNINGS:
D Jacobs c Younus b Irfan 36
A Puttick c Shafiq b Junaid 7
S van Zyl b Gul 7
C Chetty c Gul b Irfan 29
V van Jaarsveld c & b Ajmal 43
J Ontong not out 51
D Vilas not out 8
EXTRAS: (lb 3, nb 6) 9
TOTAL: (5 wickets; 50 overs) 190
FOW: 1-26, 2-33, 3-70, 4-101, 5-146
BOWLING: Umar Gul 7-0-43-1, Junaid Khan 11-1-35-1, Saeed Ajmal 18-6-45-1, M Irfan 7-0-26-2, M Hafeez 7-0-38-0
TOSS: Pakistan
UMPIRES: I Howell, D Smith