De Kock puts South Africa on top, warns clean sweep will be ‘tough’
JOHANNESBURG: Quinton de Kock hit an imperious century to put South Africa in a powerful position on the third day of the third and final Test against Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday, then warned that completing a series clean sweep would not be easy.
Set to make a daunting 381 to win, Pakistan were 153 for three at the close, needing another 228 runs.
De Kock’s 129 and a double strike by Dale Steyn kept South Africa on course but Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam batted brightly towards the close to give Pakistan some hope.
“It’s going to be quite tough,” said De Kock. “The pitch has flattened out. It’s definitely got better, surprisingly. I thought with the new ball it would do a lot more than it did.”
Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood got Pakistan off to their best start of the series, putting on 67 for the first wicket.
They were largely untroubled by South Africa’s all-pace attack until Steyn changed ends and dismissed both openers in quick succession.
When Azhar Ali fell cheaply to Duanne Olivier for the fourth time in the series, gloving a bouncer to wicketkeeper De Kock, a South African win seemed certain.
But Shafiq raced to 48 not out off 47 balls, while Azam looked comfortable in making 17 not out.
Realistically, though, the odds favour the home team with only captain Sarfraz Ahmed, a couple of all-rounders and the tail to come.
“We’ll have a chat about it tonight. They have a couple of decent batsmen in the mix so we’ll have to box cleverly tomorrow,” said De Kock.
Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood said the remaining Pakistan batsmen would need to follow the example of De Kock and Hashim Amla, who enabled South Africa to recover from a precarious 93 for five. - AFP