Yesterday South Africa played their 500th One Day International since re-admission. Graeme Pollock was also honoured with the naming of a pavilion after him, the Graeme Pollock Pavilion. The start of the match was delayed due to rain and was rescheduled to start at 12:00. As a result, the match was reduced to 45 overs per side. South Africa won the toss and chose to field. Pakistan remained unchanged from the 1st ODI while the Proteas made two changes, McLaren in for Philander and Tsotsobe in for Morkel.
Once again Hafeez was dismissed by Steyn, for the 15th time. Shehzad reached his 3rd ODI century, as well as 1000 ODI runs. He scored the most runs for Pakistan, reaching 102 runs off 112 deliveries. Maqsood and Shehzad shared a 3rd wicket partnership of 124 runs off 134 deliveries. With Maqsood and Umar Akmal following closely with 42 runs each. Anwar Ali lost his wicket for obstructing the field (Law 37 Obstructing the Field). Which reminded me that Hafeez was dismissed the same way at Sahara Kingsmead Stadium during their tour of South Africa earlier this year.
Anyway, Pakistan were all out for 262 runs at the end of their 45 overs. With Steyn finishing with a career best of 6-39, while McLaren and Imran Tahir took 1 wicket a piece.
With the Proteas needing 263 runs in 45 overs for victory, they lost the early wicket of Smith. However, Amla and de Kock steadied the ship for a while until the loss of de Kock. Although the runs were dripping in while the run rate was increasing, Amla was able to reach a 22nd half century. Skipper AB de Villiers came to the crease just when the Proteas were looked like they were in trouble. After smashing a few balls around, de Villiers quickly reached his 35th half century and his 9th against Pakistan. On his way to a century, Amla fell two runs short.
Eventually the Proteas failed to reach the required total while Pakistan won by 1 run, won their maiden bilateral series and lead the 3-match series 2-0.
