Sharjah, March 24: South Africa clinched their 14th win on the trotover Pakistan but not before they were made to sweat in the SharjahCup match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here on Friday evening

Viren Varma25-Mar-2000Sharjah, March 24: South Africa clinched their 14th win on the trotover Pakistan but not before they were made to sweat in the SharjahCup match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here on Friday evening.Pakistan, batting first, limped to 195 for eight from their allotted50 overs. S. Africa reached victory with 33 balls to spare.Pakistan staged a compelling fightback reducing the South Africans toseven for 163 by the 39th over, but unheralded Nicky Boje rose to thechallenge from nowhere to blow their hopes. The gusty player, known byspinning fingers, smashed a cool-headed unbeaten 35.Pakistan, already handicapped by the absence of star players likeSaeed Anwar, Saqlain Mushtaq and Azhar Mahmood, suffered a furtherblow when Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhar were omitted due to groininjury.South Africa also owe thanks to Jacques Kallis (35) and Neil McKenzie(31) for making useful contributions after a stunning five-wicket haulfrom Man-of-the-Match Lance Klusener restricted Pakistan to a modest196.The match was still tight when Waqar Younis returned for his secondspell with South Africa needing 12 runs, but he conceded 11 runs andit was all and over for Pakistan.Earlier, Pakistan faltered badly after a pretty good start, theirseasoned batsmen once again failing to provide the solidity to theinnings in the middle. The pressure, of course, was there to step thescoring rate, but then that’s one-day cricket: things are never servedon a platter.Young Imran Nazir and Younis Khan played with cultured innings, nevermissing out on a chance to go for big hits after the early fall ofShahid Afridi. Nazir, in particular, was pretty impressive andexecuted strokes with grace and conviction.The two, who put on 115 runs for the second wicket in 176 balls, werenot exactly on fire, but that was understandable since it has beenlong since Pakistan batsmen have been among the runs. The first 20overs yielded just 54 runs and by the 30th over they were 103 for one.