Morkel and Botha put South Africa in control

Sun, Nov 14 10 06:17 PM

Morne Morkel and Johan Botha tore through Pakistan's batting order as the designated hosts collapsed to 248 all out on the third day of the first test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

After off-spinner Botha dismantled the middle order by picking up three quick wickets, paceman Morkel made sure South Africa took a firm control of the match as he grabbed five for 54 to give the visitors a first innings lead of 132.

The hosts lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 28 runs and face an uphill task to save the test.

The South African made a confident start to their second innings as Graeme Smith (20 not out) and Alviro Petersen (26) put on 47 runs for the first wicket to extend their overall lead to 179 at tea.

Petersen was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman with the last ball before tea.

Earlier, Azhar Ali was the only Pakistan batsman to defy South Africa for any length of time as he ground his way to 56 off 172 balls.

He was eventually dismissed when he fended a Morkel short ball to Hashim Amla at short leg as Pakistan's innings fell away in the face of some disconcerting bounce that Morkel extracted off a lifeless pitch.

Paceman Dale Steyn sparked the collapse after lunch when he had Adnan Akmal (10) caught behind before Morkel took centre stage.

The tall bowler had Rehman (one) caught at third slip before he dismissed Ali.

Morkel then ended the innings in the space of five balls when he had both Wahab Riaz (five) and Saeed Ajmal (two) caught by keeper Mark Boucher.

Off-spinner Botha ended the innings with figures of three for 61 as he found both bounce and turn to trouble the batsmen.

Reporting by Jason Humphries in Durban, editing by Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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