South Africa Look to Wrap up Series

Dubai: Pakistan have come back admirably from the sorry state they seemed to be in after the 1st ODI.

They pulled off a miraculous win in the second ODI and almost did a repeat in the third, but South Africa eventually scraped through by 2 runs.

The Proteas will be mighty relieved to have regained the lead with their narrowest ODI win over Pakistan. They did well to hold their nerve at the end and finish victors.

Their total of 228 was thanks largely to a brilliant 100 by Amla. The rest of the batsmen failed to provide support to the opener and they will want to make up for that with more significant performances in this ODI.

Graeme Smith has recovered from the blow to his hand courtesy of Shoaib Ahktar in the first match, and returns to the top of the order. Steyn's return will go some way towards making up for Tsotsobe's absence, while Parnell slots in as an allround option.

Pakistan need something inspirational to draw level with South Africa, and so the temptation to bring back Umar Akmal's X-factor will arise once again. It's unclear who might make way for him, with Asad Shafiq the likeliest to sit out. With Umar Gul yet to recover from injury, and Wahab Riaz performing admirably in his absence, the bowling line-up should be settled.

They almost pulled off the win with significant contributions by Imran Farhat, Asad Shafiq and Fawad Alam, but their knocks went in vain as they fell agonizingly short at the end. The other batsmen will be disappointed to have not supported the set batsmen and will want a more gutsy performance in the 4th ODI.

Teams from

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

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

Pitch and conditions
The wicket generally played true, although slightly slow and low, on Tuesday and there's no reason for conditions to be any different on Friday with the same strip being used for all three games. Hot, sunny conditions should prevail in the afternoon with a warm, dry evening to follow.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa's 228 for 9 in the last game is the highest ever total at the Dubai International Stadium, although it was also just the third ODI to be played at the venue. It has hosted 12 Twenty20 internationals, many of which have also been low-scoring affairs with Pakistan's 161 for 8 against New Zealand last year the highest score in that format.
• Hashim Amla has scored eight international hundreds, three in Tests and five in ODIs, this year, with 1782 runs at 81.00 in 20 matches. His 119 in the last match took him straight to the top of the list of leading run-scorers at the Dubai International cricket stadium.
• Shahid Afridi tops the wicket-takers' list for this venue, with 10 scalps in three games here.

Match facts
Friday November 5, 2010 (day/night)
Start time 15:00 local (11:00 GMT)