SA VS PAK 1ST ODI

Right then, an ODI series win in Australia and already a 1-0 series lead in South Africa. Pakistan are on a bit of a roll and next up, they will travel to Cape Town for the 2nd ODI. South Africa will be looking to bounce back at Newlands and level up the series. The 2nd ODI will be played on Thursday, 19 December and will begin at 12 pm GMT. You can join us a lot sooner though for the build-up. Cheers!

Pakistan's captain Mohammad Rizwan emphasizes the collective effort behind his team’s performance. He notes that while the fast bowlers struggled early, the spinners turned the game around, and the pacers delivered in the death overs. Rizwan highlights the comeback potential in ODI cricket, praising players like Abrar Ahmed and Salman Agha for their ability to take crucial wickets after the Powerplay. He also underlines the importance of unity within the team, expressing pride in awarding the Player of the Match to a youngster as a way to foster camaraderie and team spirit.

Aiden Markram, the captain of South Africa says that they were looking for somewhere between 270 and 300 but hopefully, they can improve for the next game in Cape Town. Adds that the plan is always to take the game deep and just want to avoid making the same mistakes they did in this game and mentions that there were a few positives as well including the way Heinrich Klaasen batted. Mentions that he is proud of the fight his team put up.

Salman Agha is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his brilliance with both bat and ball but he calls up Saim Ayub and shares the award with him. When asked about the partnership, Salman says that it was fantastic in the middle with Ayub and Saim being there gave him a lot of confidence at the start of his innings. Salman adds that he is sharing this trophy with Saim because it's not easy to face the new ball and continue to bat with wickets falling all around him and then get to a hundred against such a bowling attack. Salman believes that Saim did the hard work to provide the stage for Salman to win the game in the end. Saim Ayub talks about him keeping the belief that they can do it and the partnership with a senior player gave him a lot of experience needed to bat the way he batted.

The Presentation ceremony...

Earlier in the game, South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first on a track that looked great to bat initially and the South African opening pair of Tony de Zorzi and Ryan Rickelton added 70 runs in quick time to reinstate that fact. However, as soon as the spinners came on, everything changed and Salman Agha who is more of a batting all-rounder ran riot picking up 4 wickets in quick succession and pegged South Africa back. Heinrich Klaasen then added a couple of valuable stands with Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen and scored 86 runs himself to take South Africa to a half-decent total. Pakistan were solid with the ball and the lead spinner, Abrar Ahmed picked up a couple of wickets as well whilst being highly economical.

South Africa knew they were at least 30 or so runs short with the bat but will feel they could have easily ended on the winning side regardless. They began strongly, keeping things quiet in the first 10 overs and then got a cluster of wickets in the earlier phase of the middle overs thanks to Ottneil Baartman but soon enough, the wickets dried up. Aiden Markram tried to shuffle his pack in the best way but the game was getting away from them and he had to bowl out Kagiso Rabada a bit earlier than usual. KG responded with a couple of wickets in his penultimate over and Tabraiz Shamsi got one too and the Proteas felt they could pull it off. However, no further wickets fell and they ended up second best afterall.

With a modest total to chase down, Pakistan had a shaky start and lost Abdullah Shafique early on. Saim Ayub and Babar Azam steadied the ship but when the time came to accelerate, Babar fell and so did a couple of other batters, leaving Ayub with a lot to do. However, Salman Agha came in and just like he did with the ball, he showed composure with the bat and the pair started to get an upper hand against the bowlers. Ayub went on to score his maiden ODI ton before getting out and triggering another slump. But it simply was Salman's day and along with the help of Naseem Shah, he guided his side to a famous win, remaining unbeaten on 82.

What a humdinger of a game but it is Pakistan who have managed to notch up the win after having almost let it slip in classical fashion and it is yet another away ODI win for them. Salman Agha with the performance of his life with both bat and ball and his calm head has taken his side over the line and into the series lead.

FOUR! It's all over! Salman Agha gets Pakistan over the line with a brilliant innings! Pakistan win the first ODI of the series. Fuller on the off stump line and Salman Agha plays a beautiful straight drive, beating the bowler and gets a boundary. Punches the air with joy as he is unbeaten at 82 along with 4 wickets in the first innings as well. What a game for the Pakistani all-rounder.

Nagging length on off. Salman Agha blocks the ball from the crease straight to point and refuses the single. Naseem Shah runs half way and is sent back. The fielder from point misses the direct hit at the bowler's end. Still, 2 runs required for Pakistan to win the game.

Dot ball to start the over! Marco Jansen watches Salman Agha move away from the stumps and bowls is wide outside the off stump, fuller. Salman Agha lets the ball go through.

Short delivery on the stumps from Ottneil Baartman. Salman Agha pulls it to fine leg and runs a single to keep strike. Pakistan now require 2 more runs to win the first ODI of the series.

Much fuller on the stumps. Naseem Shah drives it straight to mid off and runs a single. The fielder misses the direct hit and Naseem Shah gets home. 3 runs more now!

Bowls a perfect yorker from wide of the crease on the off stump. Salman Agha just manages to get an inside edge towards short fine leg for another single. 4 runs more to win for Pakistan.

Just short outside off. Naseem Shah taps it late to third man for a single, giving the strike back to Salman Agha.

Length ball on the stumps. Salman Agha slogs it to deep mid-wicket for a single.