Yousuf Youhana takes Pakistan to 2-0 lead

Pakistan 267 for 7 (Youhana 65, Shoaib Malik 45, Ntini 4-46) beat South Africa 225 for 9 (Dippenaar 58, Mohammad Sami 3-20, Mohammad Hafeez 3-37) by 42 runs
Scorecard

Tempers flare: the umpires move in as Hall and Youhana exchange unpleasantries © Wisden Cricinfo Ltd

Chasing under lights yet again in the second game of their one-day series against Pakistan, South Africa could not resist the pressure for long enough to make a realistic assault their target of 268, falling short by 42 runs. Pakistan's second win in three days at Lahore gave them a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

The script followed that of the first match quite closely. After Yousuf Youhana missed another chance of a century, a late flurry brought Pakistan vital runs. Boeta Dippenaar then shepherded South Africa's chase until it crumbled against some tight bowling and fielding.

Tonight it was Mohammad Hafeez's part-time offspin that derailed the chase. Hafeez had Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph all sweeping at deliveries too full for the stroke, bowling Dippenaar and trapping the other two lbw. Mohammad Sami, who had Graeme Smith caught at slip in the fifth over, returned to reverse-swing the old ball, knocking back the stumps of Robin Peterson and Andrew Hall with immaculate yorkers.

The South African chase looked healthiest when, after Smith's dismissal, Kallis and Dippenaar added 89 for the second wicket. Dippenaar played the sheet-anchor and rotated the strike well, while Kallis took advantage of Umar Gul's discomfiture at the clouds of hovering insects. Despite the insecticide sprayed during the interval, Gul pulled up short more than once, turning to his team-mates to de-bug his eyes. His line and length became progressively more erratic, and Kallis capitalised. Off consecutive balls from Gul he flicked a four to square leg, cut him for four more, and then clipped one behind square to the fence.

But Kallis's eventual dismissal to Hafeez was the beginning of the end. Neil McKenzie survived a stumping chance but then pushed the ball to Sami at mid-off and went for a non-existent single. Sami got in another direct hit when Dippenaar called Mark Boucher for a run after dabbing it to backward point. Younis Khan ran out the final semblance of batting resistance in Shaun Pollock, and Pakistan had sealed the result long before Ntini smashed the final ball of the day over long-on for a huge six.

Yousuf Youhana, captaining on the field after Inzamam-ul-Haq strained a leg muscle while batting (he's in some doubt for the next game, at Faisalabad on Tuesday), led his side cannily. He could have used some of that judgment when he was batting earlier on: for the second match running, he squandered a splendid opportunity to get a century.

Ntini and Pollock had got rid of Yasir Hameed and Hafeez, the openers, by keeping a strict rein on line and length. But things changed with Youhana's arrival. Suddenly the bowling seemed to hold fewer demons, and the runs started to flow. That, apparently, was not to South Africa's liking: after Youhana hit him for four, Hall elbowed him during a single. When Youhana objected, Hall eyeballed him and launched a verbal tirade. Only the intervention of the umpires and a stern warning to Smith, South Africa's captain, prevented the incident from snowballing.

Inzamam hobbled off in the 17th over, and Javed Miandad, Pakistan's coach, signalled to Youhana to stay put. But almost immediately Youhana tried to tickle Kallis to third man and was caught behind - an almost identical dismissal to his one in the first game.

Shoaib Malik, after his whirlwind assault on Friday, looked set for an encore, and indeed did thump fours off Kallis and Alan Dawson. But Ntini's return for his second spell proved decisive. Bowling full and straight, he had Younis caught behind before inducing Shoaib and Abdul Razzaq to inside-edge into their stumps. Rashid Latif was adjudged run out by the third umpire - there was some doubt about the decision - and suddenly Pakistan were struggling to reach 250.

They did eventually get there, courtesy of some big hitting from Inzamam, back with a runner and disdainfully punishing Hall in the final over of the innings. The over cost 16, most of them to Inzamam, but in the final analysis, they hardly mattered. Pakistan won the match easily enough, with 42 runs to spare, and they now need to win only one of the remaining three matches to take the one-day series.