Sport World sport
An unbeaten ton from Hashim Amla was just enough to give South Africa the edge in Dubai last night and help the Proteas to a 2-1 lead in the five match series against Pakistan.
Pakistan won the toss and decided to field, sending in Johan Botha and his team on a wicket that gave some help to the bowlers.
Amla stood his ground for the complete 50 overs of the South African innings and made 119 off 126 balls while the rest of the batting line-up crumbled around him. Only JP Duminy managed to get his own score past 20, making 26 off 35 balls.
Amla contributed more than half of the Protea total of 228.
AB de Villiers, who really struggled in his innings, was unfortunate to be given out stumped by the third umpire, who clearly did not see the number 4 batsman's foot behind the line on his TV screen.
South Africa bowled well to restrict Pakistan to 148 for six in forty overs, but Fawad Alam (59 off 110) and Wahab Riaz (21 off 15) got the chasers very close to the target score.
Morne Morkel's dismissal of Riaz in the 47th over turned the match around at the death and Shoaib Akhtar, who had to hit a four off the last ball of the match to win, was not up to the task.
Amla was voted man-of-the-match. South Africa play Pakistan again on Friday in the fourth match of the series; the game starts at 13:00 South African time.
