Pakistan on High After South Africa Victory

Dubai: Pakistan's first victory in the series against South Africa has given it a boost ahead of the third one-day international and will help the players overcome off-field distractions, coach Waqar Younis said Monday.

Waqar was especially pleased with the performance of Abdul Razzaq, who scored a stunning unbeaten 109 off 72 balls on Sunday. He said Razzaq probably "felt under pressure" to help the team out of its poor form.

"For the past 12 or 13 years, he has been a great performer for Pakistan cricket," Waqar said of Razzaq. "He made Pakistan proud and helped them win a lot of games. It is just unfortunate that Pakistan wasn't really playing well. He probably felt he was under pressure and played a superb knock."

Pakistan lost both its Twenty20s in Abu Dhabi and was facing defeat at 136-5 in the second ODI before Razzaq lifted it to a one-wicket win that leveled the five-match series.

The victory came on the day the team learned they wouldn't be getting Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer back anytime soon. The trio has been suspended by the ICC over charges of spot-fixing and on Sunday the appeals of Butt and Aamer against provisional suspensions were rejected by the ICC's code of conduct commission.

Waqar admitted the fixing investigation has been on the minds of his players but that the victory Sunday has at least given them something more positive to think about.

Graeme Smith, South Africa's ODI and test captain, who did not play Sunday because of injury, praised Razzaq for "taking the game away from us" in the end.

He refused to criticize his stand-in, Johan Botha, who is also South Africa's Twenty20 captain, for his decision-making, though he was critical of the team's inability to close out the match.

Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis missed the second ODI and it's not yet certain that they will return for the third. Smith got hit on his hand but x-rays revealed no fracture, while Kallis was racked with cramps and had to retire in the first game. He needed an intravenous drip after suffering from dehydration, which was triggered by a viral infection.

Few people will remember Colin Ingram's century, a innings that was the bulwark of South Africa's 286 in the second ODI, because Razzaq blitzed it into an obscure page in the record books. Ingram does, however, average 85 with a strike-rate of 94 after five ODIs, and is a prospect for the future.

Teams from

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Zulqarnain Haider (wk), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdur Rehman, Fawad Alam, Imran Farhat, Shahzaib Hasan, Tanvir Ahmed, Wahab Riaz

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers (wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Charl Langeveldt, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Wayne Parnell, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Juan Theron

Stats and trivia

• Only two ODIs have been played at the Dubai International Stadium - between Pakistan and Australia - and both were low-scoring contests. Australia's 208 for 4 is the venue's highest total
• Beware Shahid Afridi the legspinner at this venue. In those two games against Australia, Afridi claimed 6 for 38 and 2 for 38 in ten-over spells.

Match facts
Tuesday November 2, 2010 (day/night)
Start time 15:00 local (11:00 GMT)