South Africa has qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final after beating Pakistan by two wickets in a high-drama encounter at SuperSport Park. Set a modest but challenging target of 148 to win, they were 99 for eight just before lunch, and it was left to Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen to score the remaining 51 runs in a tense ninth-wicket stand against a Pakistan attack with their tails up.
Mohammad Abbas, on a comeback from a three-year absence from the Test side, bowled a marathon 19.3 overs spell from the Hennops River End and took a career-best 6 for 54 but could not end Pakistan’s lean run in South Africa. This is the eighth successive Test they have lost in the country, dating back to 2007.
Summarised scores: South Africa 301 (Markham 89, Bosch 81*, Shahzad 3 for 75, Naseem 3 for 92) and 150 for 8 (Bavuma 40, Abbas 6 for 54) beat Pakistan 211 (Ghulam 54, Paterson 5 for 61, Bosch 4 for 63) and 237 (Shakeel 84, Babar 50, Jansen 6 for 52)
South Africa won by two wickets