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Cape Town - The Proteas were given a timely reminder of how much work lies ahead before the Cricket World Cup in May when they were beaten by Pakistan in the first ODI at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
As it happened: Proteas v Pakistan, 1st ODI
The experience of man of the match Mohammad Hafeez was there for all to see as his unbeaten 71 off 63 balls (8 fours and 2 sixes) got his side over the line.
The other key batting contributions for Pakistan came from Imam-ul-Haq (86 off 101 balls, 5 fours and 2 sixes) and Babar Azam (49 off 69 balls, 5 fours) who put on 94 for the second wicket to lay the foundation for victory.
Other important contributions came on the bowling front from Hasan Ali (1/42) and Shadab Khan (1/41) who had the most economical bowling figures in the match and tied down the Proteas batsmen at critical times.
The Proteas' total of 266/2 on the back of a 155-run second wicket partnership between Hashim Amla and new cap Rassie van der Dussen always looked a little bit below par and so it turned out to be.
Amla put his barren 2018 ODI year behind him with his 27th century in this format (108 not out off 120 balls, 7 fours and 1 six). It was his first century at this venue and his third against Pakistan - which tied the South African record of AB de Villiers.
Van der Dussen made South Africa’s fourth highest ODI score on debut (93 off 101 balls, 3 fours and 3 sixes) and had every reason to feel happy about his first performance.
The other debutant, Duanne Olivier, turned in a mixed performance. He did outstandingly well in the opening power play, taking 1/13 in 4 overs, and there is no doubt that, although he has to work on his white-ball skills, he provides genuine wicket-taking opportunities.
The two areas that the Proteas will undoubtedly reflect on will be their batting in the final power play and their bowling in the second power play.
The Proteas only managed to score 76 in the final 10 overs which is way below their norm which often runs to three figures.
On a slow-paced pitch that lacked bounce and pace and under conditions that provided neither seam nor swing assistance the Proteas were left with a lack of wicket-taking options in the middle overs and it required the part-time spin of Reeza Hendricks to break the second-wicket partnership.
The chances are that pitches may be similar for the World Cup and the Proteas will need to consider whether they need to play two specialist spin bowlers as an attacking option.
The second ODI will take place on Tuesday at Kingsmead in Durban with the first ball due to be delivered at 13:00.
Teams:
South Africa
Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Duanne Olivier
Pakistan
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain, wkt), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari
Umpires: Gregory Brathwaite (WIN), Allahudien Paleker (RSA)
TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)
