Full Scorecard From St George's - Pakistan Scored a Massive 262 all out

Pakistan managed to post an above-average score batting first at St George's Park during the rain-reduced second ODI in Port Elizabeth. The average score for teams batting first at this venue is around 233 only, and that is for a full 50 over ODI. Today's game has been reduced to 45 overs and the Proteas have to bat much better than they did over the past weekend to pull the ODI series back to 1-1.

The Proteas' bowlers, apart from Dale Steyn (he took 6 wickets!) and Imran Tahir, did not bowl the right lengths at times, but can the batsmen deliver a perfect batting display? Somebody like Smith, Amla, Kallis, De Kock, or De Villiers has to score a big fifty or even a century to ensure victory for South Africa. David Miller and Duminy are under pressure to deliver with the bat as well ... We may have a great game to look forward to ...!

Pakistan Score Card

Pakistan innings262/10(45.0)

R/R: 5.82

Batsman	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR
Nasir Jamshed	b Dale Steyn	2	5	0	0	40.00
Ahmed Shehzad	run out (Imran Tahir)	102	112	8	2	91.07
Mohammad Hafeez	c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn	8	16	0	0	50.00
Sohaib Maqsood	c Hashim Amla b Ryan McLaren	42	59	3	0	71.19
Misbah-ul-Haq (C)	c Quinton de Kock b Imran Tahir	12	15	1	0	80.00
Umar Akmal (W)	c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn	42	30	4	2	140.00
Shahid Afridi	c AB de Villiers b Dale Steyn	11	13	1	0	84.62
Bilawal Bhatti	c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn	21	14	4	0	150.00
Anwar Ali	obstructing the field	7	4	1	0	175.00
Saeed Ajmal	c Jacques Kallis b Dale Steyn	0	1	0	0	0.00
Junaid Khan	not out	1	1	0	0	100.00

Extras: 14 (b - 0, w - 13, no - 1, lb - 0, penalty - 0)
Fall of Wickets	1/2 (Nasir Jamshed 0.5ov.) 2/22 (Mohammad Hafeez 6.5ov.) 3/146 (Sohaib Maqsood 28.1ov.) 4/176 (Misbah-ul-Haq 33.5ov.) 5/180 (Ahmed Shehzad 35ov.) 6/214 (Shahid Afridi 39.5ov.) 7/241 (Bilawal Bhatti 43ov.) 8/261 (Anwar Ali 44.3ov.) 9/261 (Umar Akmal 44.4ov.) 10/262 (Saeed Ajmal 45ov.)

Bowlers	O	M	R	WKT	NO	WD	ECON
Dale Steyn	9	0	39	6	0	0	4.33
Lonwabo Tsotsobe	9	0	47	0	0	4	5.22
Ryan McLaren	9	0	71	1	0	5	7.89
Jacques Kallis	8	0	49	0	0	0	6.13
Imran Tahir	8	0	33	1	0	0	4.13
JP Duminy	2	0	22	0	0	0	11

Cricket Update From St George's - SA vs Pakistan (2nd ODI)

Rain did delay the start of the 2nd ODI in Port Elizabeth, but play managed to start about 30 minutes ago and South Africa's AB de Villiers won the toss. He might have batted first if conditions were different, but because of the rain and moisture around, he elected to bowl and field first. 

This decision paid off early on as Steyn got rid of the one Pakistan opener, Jamshed for only 2 runs. Steyn bowled him with a perfect in-swinger and the opener were beaten all-ends-up!

Dale Steyn has just now, in the 7th over, struck once more by dismissing Mohammad Hafeez for 8 runs, caught behind by De Kock. It is the umpteenth time he has dismissed Hafeez, who tried to cut a shortish ball from Steyn, but only managed to get a faint edge to it, and De Kock did the rest. Steyn's figures are 2 for 9, in 4 overs and Pakistan's score is currently 22/2.

45 Overs per side due to the rain ...

1 pm:    Pakistan:  50 / 2  after  12.1 overs

1:30 pm:  Pakistan:   99 / 2  after 20.3 overs

2 pm:  Pakistan:  146 / 2  after 28 overs

2:30 pm:  Pakistan:  180 / 5  after 35 overs

3 pm:  Pakistan:  214 / 6  after 40 overs 

Proteas Have It All to Do Tomorrow at St George's Park (Wednesday, 27 November 2013)

Pakistan has never beaten the Proteas in an ODI series in South Africa, which is why the South Africans and captain AB de Villiers have to ensure that they bounce back after their mediocre performance(s) over the weekend at Newlands. (They lost the 2nd T20 there on Friday night as well!)

The Port Elizabeth pitch is perfectly suited for the quality spin attack of the visitors, but South Africa recently beat Pakistan in the UAE where they encountered similar conditions; therefore, it should pose no serious problems for AB and his troopers. This is the perfect venue for the Proteas own first-class spinner, Imran Tahir to shine and show what he can do on the local batting surfaces.

I think that if AB wins the toss he would surely decide to bat first and go out to post a decent, and very competitive total. (see stats below to see why!) 

Here are the ODI statistics that matter the most at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth:

Average 1st innings score at St Georges Park is 233

Average 2nd innings score at St Georges Park is 194

Highest Score Chased at St Georges Park is 330

Lowest Score Defended at St Georges Park is 171

Matches Won Batting First at St Georges Park is 18

Matches Won Bowling First at St Georges Park is 15

What do you predict will happen in tomorrow's encounter - will Pakistan make it 2-0 or will SA make it 1-1?