Cricket-Saim Ayub steers Pakistan to ODI series win over South Africa

Saim Ayub scored 77 from 70 balls as Pakistan eased to a seven-wicket victory over South Africa in the third and final One-Day International in Faisalabad on Saturday to clinch the series 2-1. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat but a collapse from a commanding position saw them post a below-par 143 all out in 37.5 overs.

That was never likely to challenge the home side and they reached their target with three wickets down and a huge 149 deliveries remaining. South Africa made a good start to their innings with a 72-run opening stand between left-handers Quinton de Kock (53) and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (39), but lost their next nine wickets for the addition of only 71 runs.

Pakistan’s spinners squeezed the scoring rate and got the ball to grip off the surface, with Abrar Ahmed picking up career-best figures of 4-27. Salman Agha (2-18) and Mohammad Nawaz (2-31) were also excellent as they ripped through the middle order. Abrar’s first three wickets were all bowled as he bamboozled the South African batters with his variations.

Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman for a second successive duck in the opening over but Saim anchored their innings to go with contributions from Babar Azam (27) and Mohammad Rizwan (32 not out). Pakistan begin a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, while South Africa stay on the sub-continent with the start of their two-match test series against India on Friday.