Daijiworld Media Network
Cape Town, Feb 15: Hello and welcome to day 2 of the second Test between South Africa and Pakistan from Newlands. Pakistan were boosted by centuries from Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq and they will look to capitalize on this situation. The second new ball is the key for South Africa and they will be going all out to polish off the Pakistan tail which is pretty long.
Pitch Report: The grass is coarse and the surface is still dry. With the heavy rollers been employed today, the pitch will be wonderful to bat on.
Day 1 has been a great day for Pakistan. After been reduced to 33/4, Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq produced a wonderful partnership that rescued them from the doldrums. Younis Khan scored his 21st Test ton while Shafiq notched up his 3rd. Their 219 run partnership was broken when Vernon Philander snapped up Younis Khan for 111. The South African bowlers were severely put to the Test today and they will look to restrict Pakistan to under 300.
Day 1- Highlights :
Cape Town Test - first day's highlights:
# Graeme Smith is leading South Africa in his 100th Test - the 101st overall. (He had led ICC World XI vs Australia at Sydney in October 2005).
# Misbah-ul-Haq's first duck as captain is his fifth in Tests.
# Misbah-ul-Haq is averaging 47.87 against South Africa (383 runs in six Tests, including four fifties and a duck.) as against his overall Test average of 44.52.
# Azhar Ali, after playing splendidly in his previous series against South Africa in UAE - 56 & 63 at Dubai and 90 & 28 not out at Abu Dhabi, has scored 13 & 18 at Johannesburg and 4 at Cape Town in the present series.
# Asad Shafiq has completed his 1,000 runs in 18 Tests - 1062 runs in 27 innings at an average of 46.17.
# Asad has posted a career-best - 111 not out - his third Test hundred, surpassing the 104 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in December 2011.
# Asad's only other hundred is 100 not out against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in July 2012.
# Younis Khan (111) has recorded his 21st century in Tests - his fourth against South Africa.
# Younis' 111 off 226 balls is his first century in Tests in South Africa, eclipsing the 68 at Centurion in January 2007.
# Younis has recorded one century each at Dubai (DSC), Lahore, Karachi and Cape Town against South Africa in Tests.
# Younis is the first Pakistani player to register four hundreds against South Africa in Tests.
# Younis took his runs' tally to 876 at an average of 46.10 in eleven Tests - a record for Pakistan against South Africa.
# Younis and Shafiq have recorded 219 - Pakistan's first double century partnership for any wicket against South Africa in Tests, outstripping the 186 (unbroken) between Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq for the fourth wicket at Dubai (DSC) in November 2010.
# Pakistan's previous highest fifth-wicket partnership against South Africa was 127 between Asad Shafiq and Misbah-ul-Haq at Johannesburg in February 2013.
# The 219-run partnership is the fourth highest for Pakistan for the fifth wicket in Tests - the highest is 281 between Asif Iqbal and Javed Miandad against New Zealand at Lahore in October 1976.
# Overall, five double century stands have been recorded for Pakistan for the fifth wicket in Tests. Shafiq and Younis is the only pair to register two such stands for the fifth wicket - their first being 259 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in December 2011.
# The 219-run stand is a record for the fifth wicket at Newlands, Cape Town - the first double century stand for this wicket-position at Cape Town.
# Overall, twelve stands of 200 or more have been registered at Cape Town in Tests - the highest is 368 between Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith for the first wicket for South Africa against Pakistan at Cape Town in January 2003.
# For the second time for Pakistan, two centuries have been recorded in the same Test innings against South Africa - the first instance being 115 by Ali Naqvi and 128 not out by Azhar Mahmood in the 1997-98 Rawalpindi Test.