South Africa build lead with Smith century

South Africa 198 for 4 (Smith 107*, de Villiers 26*) lead Pakistan 99 (Babar 25*, Tahir 5-32, Steyn 3-38) by 99 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details


    Graeme Smith took South Africa into the lead, Pakistan v South Africa, 2nd Test, 1st day, Dubai, October 23, 2013
Graeme Smith was solid during the first session and completed his second consecutive century in Dubai © AFP
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Matches: Pakistan v South Africa at Dubai (DSC)
Series/Tournaments: South Africa tour of United Arab Emirates
Teams: Pakistan | South Africa

Graeme Smith strolled to his 27th century in the first session of the second morning against Pakistan, helping South Africa to a healthy 99-run lead in Dubai. Pakistan bowlers managed just the one wicket, that of nightwatchman Dale Steyn, and were thwarted for around 90 minutes by an unbeaten 64-run stand between Smith and AB de Villiers.

It was Smith's first hundred - his fourth against Pakistan - on return from a five-month lay-off during which he underwent an ankle surgery. If there were any lingering doubts about his fitness or form, he dispelled them with nimble use of the feet against the spinners throughout the session and reached the landmark with a straight drive off Saeed Ajmal after he had stepped out of the crease.

Smith started scoring freely in the second half of the session, picking singles that were available with the field spread out. While in the 90s, he shuffled across to the off side to pick gaps on the leg side a couple of times against Irfan.

There was not much help for the bowlers as South Africa were handed with probably the best batting conditions of the match. Apart from a couple of deliveries from Mohammad Irfan, the seamers failed to extract any bounce or movement off the pitch and the spinners didn't get any help from the surface either. However, Smith and de Villiers rotated the strike expertly after a slow start to the day to stretch South Africa's advantage.

Pakistan, though, were left to rue a couple of chances that came their way. De Villiers, facing his first delivery against Irfan, was lured into a loose drive by a full delivery that went across the batsman. He was slow to move closer to the line of the delivery and a thick outside edge flew low to the right of the wicketkeeper, but Adnan Akmal failed to hold on.

The second chance came late in the session when Ajmal's appeal for lbw against de Villiers, who was on 25, was turned down by umpire Rob Tucker, who thought the ball had hit the bat before the pad. The replays showed the ball hit the pads first and would have gone on to strike the middle stump. However, Pakistan didn't have any reviews left after they had wasted them within five overs of the innings yesterday.

The morning had started with Steyn resolutely defending against Irfan and Ajmal as only six runs came in the first 30 minutes. By the time Irfan dismissed Steyn, he had already bowled four overs and had just enough steam in the first spell to bowl one more over to de Villiers, the new batsman. That worked out in favour of South Africa as they increased the rate of scoring against Junaid Khan, who was a touch wayward, and Zulfiqar Babar.