Quinton de Kock scored the first hundred since his international comeback, and 22nd overall, as South Africa drew level in the ODI series against  Pakistan. Tony de Zori and de Kock shared a 153-run second-wicket stand, which followed de Kock and Lhuan-dre Pretorious’  81-run opening partnership. They only lost two wickets, as de Kock completed the chase of 270 with 59 balls to spare, in Matthew Breetzke’s company.

South Africa batted with fluency and flair, both of which were absent from the Pakistan line-up after they chose to bat first. Though half-centuries from Saim Ayub and Salman Agha set Pakistan up well, their strike rates of 80.30 and 65.09 meant the going was slow throughout their innings. Mohammad Nawaz’s career-best run-a-ball 59 eventually took them over 250 – to 269.

Nawaz’s individual achievement was one of three in the first half of the match. South Africa’s left-arm seamer Nandre Burger and legspinner Nqabhayomzi Peter, who both sat out the first game, bagged career-best figures of 4 for 46 and 3 for 55 respectively. They were well supported by disciplined efforts from Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira and Bjorn Fortuin, who all conceded at under six runs an over.

While Pakistan made batting look tough, South Africa found the flow with their left-handed opening pair of Pretorius and de Kock. Pretorius enjoyed the bulk of the strike in the first four overs and hit three fours off Naseem Shah in the second, before de Kock hit his first shot of intent. He punched a short, wide Afridi ball through the covers for four. Pretorius should have been out in the next over, but Naseen spilled a return chance and Pretorius made Pakistan pay.

Pretorious went after Shaheen Shah Afridi, and then Mohammed Wasim, and appeared unstoppable before he flayed at a wide Wasim delivery and nicked off. De Kock was on 32 off 31 balls himself when he lost his opening partner, and rebuilt quietly with de Zorzi.

The pair scored 35 runs off the next seven overs and de Kock got his fifty with a six off Ashraf, before de Zorzi was finally ready to take on Afridi. He sent a short ball through midwicket and a full one through deep backward square, but his full range on the legside was on display when he took on Mohammad Nawaz. He reverse-swept, slogged over mid-wicket and then reached for a wide one to send it over long-off. In total, de Zorzi took 27 runs off 13 balls he faced from Nawaz, and also reached fifty off him.

De Kock helped himself to runs off Afridi, then entered the 80s with a six over cover off Agha. He was on 98 when Afridi reviewed an lbw shout off Wasim. However, the delivery pitched outside leg and de Kock reached his century two balls later. The ball after that, Afridi reviewed again; once more, it had pitched outside leg.

Pakistan used eight bowling options as they tried to break through, and Faheem eventually did. De Zorzi was caught off a leading edge by Ayub at point. De Kock – who finished unbeaten on 123* – and stand-in captain Matthew Breetzke ensured it was too late for Pakistan to defend their score, which could have been much less after they were reduced to 22 for 3 in the fifth over.

Earlier in the day, Burger struck with this third ball when Fakhar Zaman gloved an attempted pull to de Kock. Bosch had Babar Azam given out lbw off with his second delivery, but Babar reviewed. Ball-tracking showed the ball was bouncing over the stumps. All the same, South Africa did not have to wait too long to dismiss Pakistan’s talisman. In this third over, Burger squared up Babar, and he edged to Ferreira at first slip. Four balls later, Mohammed Rizwan fetched a Burger ball from fifth stump and chopped it onto his leg stump. At the other end, Bosch’s opening spell read: 4-0-8-0.

The change bowlers Fortuin and Ferreira kept things quiet and limited the boundaries. By the 20th over, Pakistan had collectively hit just six fours before Ayub scored the innings’ first six, off Fortuin. Ayub also got to his second ODI 50 off Fortuin.

Breetzke then made an inspired bowling change, which ended Ayub’s innings: he brought Bosch back as the halfway stage approached halfway stage, Ayub drove the ball back at Bosch with some force, and Bosch took a good low catch in his follow-through to pick up his first.

At the time, Agha was on 34 off 62 balls, and showed no signs of speeding up. So, it fell to his partners to up the ante. Hussain Talat attempted to flick Peter over the legside, but the ball only found a leading edge, giving Peter a return catch and leaving Pakistan at 131 for 5 after 30 overs.

Agha made his way to fifty off 83 balls, and then began showing signs of urgency. He also slog-swept Fortuin for four, but it was Mohammad Nawaz who danced down the track to hit the left-arm spinner for six, and then repeated the feat against Bosch. Agha tried to join in, but Bosch had the final say when he bowled him with an inswinging yorker.

Faheem Ashraf took 12 of the 13 runs off Bosch’s penultimate over, but was caught at deep mid-wicket when he tried to slog a Burger slower-ball bouncer. Peter got another return catch when Afridi top-edged him while trying to go big.

After that, it was all Nawaz. He reached his fifty with six off the first ball of the final over, hit another 10 runs, and then gave Peter his third caught and bowled. This final dismissal was the best of the lot, as he had to judge a high chance. Though Naseem finished the innings with a six, Pakistan did not have nearly enough.

Saturday’s third ODI, also in Faisalabad, will decide the series and end South Africa’s all-format tour of Pakistan.

Brief scores:
South Africa 270 for 2 in 40.1 overs  (Lhuan-dre Pretorious 46, Quinton de Kock 123*, Tony de Zorzi 76; Faheem Ashreef 1-40) beat Pakistan 269 for 9 in 50 overs (Saim Ayub 53, Salman Agha 69, Mohammad Nawaz 59; Nandre  Burger 4-46, Corbin Bosch 2-58, Nqabhayomzi Peter 3-55) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]