Olivier bags five as Proteas surge ahead against Pakistan in 3rd Test
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s fiery seamer Duanne Olivier took five wickets as the hosts powered into the ascendancy on day two of the third and final Test against an outgunned Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday.
South Africa, seeking a clean sweep of the series, went to the close on 135 for five in their second innings, a lead of 212 runs in a Test that is rapidly moving forward with 25 wickets falling in only six sessions.
Hashim Amla (42 not out) and Quinton de Kock (34 not out) will seek to set the tourists a challenging target on day three, with anything over 250 likely to trouble a Pakistan batting lineup that has battled the hostile home seam attack all series.
Olivier was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa with 5-51 as his pace and steep lift off the wicket restricted Pakistan to 185 in their first innings, the visitors losing their last five wickets for 16 runs.
Babar Azam (49) and captain Sarfraz Ahmed (50) mounted an excellent fightback after lunch with a 78-run sixth-wicket partnership in 10 overs before the latter edged seamer Kagiso Rabada (2-41) to Amla at second slip, precipitating a collapse.
It will be relief for South Africa coach Ottis Gibson, who had seen his side drop four catches in the morning session to let the visitors off the hook with unusually sloppy fielding.
Tall fast bowler Olivier now has 21 wickets in five innings in this series at an average of 13 against a Pakistan side who are unable to handle his pace and bounce.
PROMISING POSITION
The tourists were responding to South Africa’s first innings score of 262 after the hosts too had let a promising position slip by losing their final seven wickets for only 33 runs. It suggests there is a lot in the wicket for the bowlers, but despite some sideways movement and the usual bounce that comes with the Wanderers pitch, there has not been prodigious assistance. That was the case in the South African second innings as they looked to build on their 77-run first innings advantage. Stand-in captain Elgar (5) failed with the bat for a second time in the match when he edged to Sarfraz Ahmed off Mohammad Amir as Pakistan made a solitary breakthrough before tea. Aiden Markram (21), Theunis de Bruyn (7) and Themba Bavuma (23) were all also caught behind the wicket, while debutant Zubayr Hamza (0) was trapped leg before by Faheem Ashraf (2-19). There were numerous stoppages in the evening session after a swarm of small insects took up residence near the wicket, forcing aborted run-ups by the Pakistan pace attack and leading to the rare sight of seamer Hasan Ali bowling with sunglasses to avoid the intruders flying into his eyes. SCOREBOARDSouth Africa 1st innings Aiden Markram c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Faheem Ashraf 90 Dean Elgar c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Mohammad Abbas 5 Hashim Amla c Asad Shafiq b Shadab Khan 41 Theunis de Bruyn lbw Mohammad Abbas 49 Zubayr Hamza c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Mohammad Amir 41 Temba Bavuma c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Mohammad Amir 8 Quinton de Kock c Mohammad Abbas b Faheem Ashraf 18 Vernon Philander lbw Hasan Ali 1 Kagiso Rabada c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Hasan Ali 0 Dale Steyn Not Out 2 Duanne Olivier c Mohammad Abbas b Faheem Ashraf 0 Extras 0b 2lb 4nb 0pen 1w 7 Total (77.4 overs) 262 all out Fall of Wickets : 1-6 Elgar, 2-132 Markram, 3-154 Amla, 4-229 de Bruyn, 5-238 Bavuma, 6-244 Hamza, 7-249 Philander, 8-257 Rabada, 9-262 de Kock, 10-262 Olivier Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex Mohammad Amir 15.4 2 36 2 2.30 1nb Mohammad Abbas 18 6 44 2 2.44 Hasan Ali 17 3 75 2 4.41 1w Faheem Ashraf 15 2 57 3 3.80 3nb Shadab Khan 10 2 39 1 3.90 Asad Shafiq 2 0 9 0 4.50 ................................................................. Pakistan 1st innings Imam ul-Haq c Dean Elgar b Vernon Philander 43 Shan Masood c Quinton de Kock b Vernon Philander 2 Azhar Ali c Quinton de Kock b Vernon Philander 0 Mohammad Abbas c Theunis de Bruyn b Duanne Olivier 11 Asad Shafiq c Quinton de Kock b Duanne Olivier 0 Babar Azam c Kagiso Rabada b Duanne Olivier 49 Sarfaraz Ahmed c Hashim Amla b Kagiso Rabada 50 Shadab Khan c Theunis de Bruyn b Kagiso Rabada 5 Faheem Ashraf c Zubayr Hamza b Duanne Olivier 0 Mohammad Amir c Zubayr Hamza b Duanne Olivier 10 Hasan Ali Not Out 0 Extras 5b 10lb 0nb 0pen 0w 15 Total (49.4 overs) 185 all out Fall of Wickets : 1-6 Khan, 2-6 Ali, 3-53 Abbas, 4-53 Shafiq, 5-91 ul-Haq, 6-169 Ahmed, 7-169 Azam, 8-169 Ashraf, 9-185 Amir, 10-185 Khan Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex Dale Steyn 12 4 35 0 2.92 Vernon Philander 13 4 43 3 3.31 Kagiso Rabada 11.4 0 41 2 3.51 Duanne Olivier 13 2 51 5 3.92 .......................................................... South Africa 2nd innings Dean Elgar c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Mohammad Amir 5 Aiden Markram c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Mohammad Abbas 21 Hashim Amla Not Out 42 Theunis de Bruyn c Asad Shafiq b Faheem Ashraf 7 Zubayr Hamza lbw Faheem Ashraf 0 Temba Bavuma c Sarfaraz Ahmed b Shadab Khan 23 Quinton de Kock Not Out 34 Extras 2b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w 3 Total (37.0 overs) 135-5 Fall of Wickets : 1-24 Elgar, 2-29 Markram, 3-45 de Bruyn, 4-45 Hamza, 5-93 Bavuma To Bat : Philander, Rabada, Steyn, Olivier Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex Mohammad Amir 10 2 28 1 2.80 Mohammad Abbas 9 2 33 1 3.67 Hasan Ali 6 1 27 0 4.50 Faheem Ashraf 6 2 19 2 3.17 Shadab Khan 6 0 25 1 4.17 ............................. Umpire Sundaram Ravi Umpire Joel Wilson Video Bruce Oxenford Match Referee David Boon
