Pakistan 156 (Abbott 7-29) and 14 for 1 trail South Africa 409 (De Villiers 121, Amla 92, Philander 74, Rahat 6-127) by 239 runs
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It's been a heady couple of days for Kyle Abbott.
On Friday, he got the exhilarating news that he would make his Test
debut, after Jacques Kallis was ruled out with a calf injury. On
Saturday, he grabbed that chance in the most spectacular manner, ripping
through Pakistan's brittle batting to end with 7 for 29, the best
figures by a South African in his first Test innings.
He's still only South Africa's sixth-choice fast bowler, but at
Centurion he was the one proudly leading the team off the field after
Pakistan were bundled out for 156. Dale Steyn, the premier quick bowler
in the world, walked across and gave Abbott the innings ball to
treasure.
Over the past year, Abbott worked on his fitness and shed plenty of
kilos, before forcing his way into the national reckoning with a chart-topping haul of 49 wickets for Dolphins in South Africa's domestic competition.
A bustling bowler operating in the mid-130s kph range, he was accurate
around off stump and consistently got the ball to zip away from the
right-handers on a pitch that had variable bounce. It was that movement
that confounded the Pakistan batsmen, with six of his victims edging to
the slip cordon or gully. It was also a damning statement on the
technique of some of the batsmen, as they regularly tried to defend with
an open blade, resulting in outside edges that were eagerly snapped up
behind the wicket.
Unlike every other innings in this series, Pakistan's openers actually
managed to provide a solid start. Their highest partnership in four
previous innings was 10, but this time Mohammad Hafeez and Imran
Farhat, taking the place of the struggling Nasir Jamshed, kept out
everything South Africa threw at them for over an hour.
South Africa's bowlers, yet again, showed their ability to turn the game
around in a jiffy. From a steady 46 for 0, Pakistan slipped to 56 for 3
in the space of the 13 deliveries. Vernon Philander started the slide,
by getting Farhat lbw with a full delivery. Abbott then became the
second debutant in the game to get a wicket in his first over as Hafeez
slapped the ball to gully where Dean Elgar scooped up a low catch. Azhar
Ali followed next ball, as a Philander delivery stayed low and Ali's
limp attempt at defence ended in an inside-edge onto the stumps.
Asad Shafiq, one of Pakistan's more successful batsman this series, was
then trapped lbw by a pumped-up Steyn in the first over of the final
session. Sarfraz Ahmed, whose batting has looked woefully short of
international standard this series, resisted briefly, and with the help
of Younis Khan, Pakistan's perennial saviour, he took the score to 132
for 5.
Just as Pakistan fans were beginning to hope that the follow-on could be
avoided, Abbott took over, and the final five wickets were rolled over
in 40 deliveries. He began by getting Sarfraz to nick to Graeme Smith at
first slip and the very next delivery it was an action replay as Saeed
Ajmal went for a golden duck. The smile kept getting wider as the spell
continued and more lower-order batsmen gave catching practice. The final
wicket was that of Younis, who had hung around gamely for 33 before
falling lbw.
Younis didn't have much time to put his feet up, however, as Hafeez's
horror tour ended with a golden duck in the second innings after Smith
enforced the follow-on. Less than 15 minutes after having stuck around
with the tail, Younis was back out to battle South Africa's fearsome
pace pack.
Pakistan had had a bit to smile about in the morning session. Rahat Ali
hadn't earned too many admirers after his lacklustre debut in
Johannesburg earlier this month, and his shelling of an absolute sitter
off AB de Villiers made him a laughing stock, but he silenced the
doubters with a six-for that ended South Africa's first innings at 409.
With debutant Ehsan Adil struggling with a leg injury, Ajmal
understandably not at his most dangerous this early in the Test, and
Mohammad Irfan tiring towards the end of the innings, Rahat was the most
successful in an inexperienced Pakistan attack.
Before Rahat's strikes, de Villiers completed his 16th Test century, and
Philander went on to his career-best score of 74 as they stretched
their seventh wicket partnership to 129, and South Africa reached a
total that they could be satisfied with.
Abbott made certain they had nothing to worry about, as he exemplified
the depth of South Africa's talent pool and put them on their way to
complete a summer of total Test success.
Siddarth Ravindran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Siddarth Ravindran
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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