Pakistan v South Africa: Graeme Smith guides South Africa on his return

25 overs South Africa 119 for 2 (Smith 76*, de Villiers 16*) v Pakistan Graeme Smith returned to captain South Africa after missing two matches with a hand injury and led from the front as he moved to an unbeaten 76 at the midway point to guide his team to 119 for 2. He lost Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis as Pakistan kept a lid on the scoring rate, but South Africa were well placed for a strong total on a surface where it's difficult to force the pace. Smith was forced to retire hurt in the opening one-day international in Abu Dhabi and although x-rays revealed no broken bones he remained on the sidelines for the previous two games of the series. He was soon back into the swing of things, though, with an off-side boundary in the second over and looked confident during a 57-ball half-century. He and Amla gave South Africa a positive start as they aimed to wrap up the series with a match to spare having held on for a nervous two-run victory in the third match. However, Shoaib Akhtar continued to pick up vital wickets when Amla, South Africa's in-form batsman and fresh from a magnificent 119 three days ago, top-edged a pull to square leg. For much of the bowling Powerplay Pakistan did well to restrict the scoring rate with Wabab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez proving difficult to score off. Kallis tried to break the shackles by slog-sweeping Hafeez over midwicket but could only pick out the fielder on the boundary. Immediately following Kallis's departure, Smith took three boundaries off Riaz's third over - including two deft glides to third man - as he hurried towards his fifty. AB de Villiers found scoring harder work, as he did in the last match before being controversially given out stumped by the third umpire, and struggled to the beat the field against the spinners including the recalled left-armer Abdur Rehman. However, the good work from Pakistan's bowlers wasn't always backed up with a number of fumbles in the outfield. Smith's return to the line-up was one of three changes for South Africa who also welcomed back Dale Steyn for his first match of the tour while Wayne Parnell, the left-arm quick, returned with Lonwabo Tsotsobe ruled out with a back spasm. The slightly surprising decision was to omit Rusty Theron after he bowled the vital last over in the previous match to secure South Africa's narrow victory. Pakistan 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Zulqarnain Haider (wk), 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Abdur Rehman South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Colin Ingram, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 JP Duminy, 7 David Miller, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Wayne Parnell, 11 Dale Steyn