South Africa struggles against Pakistan spinners to reach 216-6 on day two in Lahore

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan left-arm spinner Noman Ali took 4-85 to peg back South Africa to 216-6 on day two of the first test at Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.

Pakistan was all out for 378 in the morning and by stumps was still ahead by 162 runs.

South Africa was 174-2 in the final session then lost four wickets for 26 runs — two of the wickets to Noman. Tony de Zorzi made it to the end of the day unbeaten on 81 from 140 balls.

From the onset, Pakistan deployed spinners from one end and Noman got catches behind off Proteas captain Aiden Markram, who reached 3,000 runs in test matches, and Wiaan Mulder.

Ryan Rickelton (71) and de Zorzi revived South Africa with a gritty 94-run third wicket stand.

They blunted Noman and Sajid Khan by not only playing deep into their crease, but also using their feet well.

De Zorzi had a nervy start when he edged two boundaries against fast bowler Hasan Ali through the slips cordon, but settled in well against the spinners and displayed his wide range of shots. Khan exhausted all three Pakistan reviews that included two unsuccessful lbw referrals against de Zorzi.

Off-spinner Salman Ali Agha broke the stand and triggered the middle-order collapse when Rickelton tried an expansive shot out of his crease and Babar Azam in the slips plucked a spectacular one-handed catch centimeters off the ground.

Tristan Stubbs (8) and Dewald Brevis’ (0) inexperience on spin pitches was exposed, and Noman further dented South Africa’s progress when he had Kyle Verreynne out plumb lbw half an hour before stumps.

Earlier, Pakistan resumed from 313-5 overnight on a dry pitch with plenty of variable bounce.

Agha and Mohammad Rizwan (75) extended their partnership to 163 and denied fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (1-56) a breakthrough in his four-over spell while also showing a lot of aggression against the off-spin of Simon Harmer, who finished with 1-101.

Rizwan and Agha bettered Pakistan’s previous best sixth-wicket partnership against South Africa — Moin Khan and Inzamam-ul-Haq combined for 144 at Faisalabad in 1997.

Agha, who survived an lbw referral in Rabada’s second over, twice lifted Harmer for sixes while Rizwan negated the spinner with sweep shots before Pakistan lost three wickets without scoring for the second time in the innings.

Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy took three wickets in four deliveries — a triple-wicket maiden over — in a career-best haul of 6-117.

Rizwan edged behind while attempting an off drive, Noman was bowled, and Khan was caught at slip by Markram for Muthusamy to be on a hat trick for the second time in the innings. Agha denied Muthusamy the hat trick.

Agha was the last Pakistan wicket to fall, on 93 going for a big hit against off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen and holing out to Muthusamy at mid-on. Agha hit five fours and three sixes in his 145-ball knock.

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket