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Live Commentary: South Africa vs. Pakistan: First Test, day four - as it happened

Sports Mole's live commentary of day four of the first Test match between South Africa and Pakistan in Johannesburg as the Proteas sealed a 211-run victory.
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South Africa began day four of the first Test match with Pakistan six wickets away from claiming a 1-0 lead in the series.

They had looked on course to wrap up victory inside three days when they declared early on Sunday with a lead of 479 runs.

However, Pakistan displayed resilience to reach the close of play with just four wickets down, but it took just over two hours of play on day four for South Africa to wrap up a comprehensive 211-run triumph.

Read below to find out how the Proteas secured their emphatic win.


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Hello, and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage of day four of the first Test match between South Africa and Pakistan in Johannesburg.

At one point yesterday, it appeared as though proceedings were going to be wrapped up inside three days when South Africa declared in the morning session with a huge lead of 480 runs. However, after being dismissed for 49 in their first innings, Pakistan surprised many by reaching stumps with the loss of just four wickets.

Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq were to thank for the majority of Pakistan's doggedness in the middle, as they posted unbeaten scores of 44 and 53 respectively, while Nasir Jamshed gave his side a fine start with a lively 46 runs off 65 balls.

South Africa are just five overs away from being able to use the second new ball and you feel that could play an important part in the direction of this match. If Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander strike, the match could be over pretty quickly, but if the Pakistan can get through the first hour of play, then who knows...

The players are due out in the middle any minute now. You would expect Graeme Smith to have his pace bowlers fired up this morning.

Jacques Kaliis is to start the day for South Africa. Here we go...

A solid start by Kallis. His line in that over was right on the money, offering Shafiq little space to manoeuvre the ball. That said, the Pakistan batsman looked comfortable in his defence.

Morne Morkel is on at the other end. Morkel has endured a frustrating Test match with the ball, but he nearly bags a wicket when Misbah edged just past the slip cordon for four. Morkel also looked to have found a little bit of life in the pitch. Good start from the fast bowler.

Pakistan's batsmen look intent on survival, which is understandable given the current state of the match. Kallis picks up his second maiden over in the process.

Misbah reaches his 18th Test match half-century with a slightly streaky cover drive. He reached the milestone off 154 balls. Three more runs come from the over.

Ouch! Misbah lets a Kallis bouncer strike him on the back, which results in a leg bye. A second attempted bouncer from Kallis evades everyone and brings up four wides for the tourists. Misbah hasn't let the blow to the back affect him and he finds the boundary with the penultimate ball of the over. Here comes the second new ball.

Dale Steyn is immediately brought into the attack and he just misses out on finding Shafiq's outside edge with his opening delivery. He replicates that ball with his last, but again, Shafiq just avoids making contact.

Vernon Philander becomes South Africa's fourth different bowler in the space of seven overs. The first three balls pass by without incident, before a thick outside edge from Misbah just avoids third slip and races to the boundary. Misbah moves to 62, while Shafiq is on 56. It is worth noting that his partnership has lasted 317 balls.

WICKET! Shafiq (56) c Kallis b Steyn

Boy, is that the breakthrough that South Africa had been looking for. Shafiq try to play the ball with soft hands but the ball clipped the bottom of his bat and went straight to Kallis. Sarfraz Ahmed is the new batsman.

Misbah moves to 64 with a single, before Sarfraz mis-cues the ball into the air, but the ball drops just in front of the on-rushing fielders.

WICKET! Misbah (64) c de Villiers b Steyn

The writing is now on the wall for Pakistan. Misbah was effectively their last hope if they were to get close to causing a huge upset, but Steyn has got him and moved one wicket away from picking up 10 wickets in the match. It was a superb delivery, pitched right on line with off stump, and the batsman could do nothing as he clipped the ball straight to the wicket-keeper. Umar Gul is Pakistan's eighth batsman.

Sarfraz's highest score in a Test match is five runs, but he equals that with a crushing shot through the off side for four, before complimenting that boundary with a single. Philander has found significant swing with the new ball but Umar Gul survives the over.

Sarfraz moves to six, before Umar Gul survives a huge appeal from Steyn, who thinks he has got his man straight in front of his stumps. However, the umpire made the right decision, correctly identifying that Gul hit the ball. Gul edges for two runs off the final ball of the over.

WICKET! Sarfraz (6) b Philander

The seventh wicket is down and Sarfraz is the man that has gone after the ball finds the inside edge and clatters into his stumps.

Saeed Ajmal gets off the mark with a quickly-run single off his first ball, before Umar Gul smashes the ball to the leg side boundary. A swing and a miss from Gul completes the over.

Ajmal joins Umar Gul in letting loose with his shots and after sending the ball for two over deep extra cover, he finds back-to-back boundaries. The first was somewhat fortuitous, the ball finding the inside edge and flying straight past de Villers, before he whipped the ball off his pads for a second four. It's drinks.

Quite a few of Pakistan's runs this morning have come from edges and they score four more when Umar Gul sends the ball over de Villiers. A single results in five runs coming from the over. It is pretty much irrelevant at this stage, but Pakistan need another 242 runs for victory.

An over of consolidation for Umar Gul, who sees off three deliveries from Steyn before neatly directing the ball past the slip cordon for two runs.

WICKET! Ajmal (11) c de Villiers b Morkel

We have a bowling change and Morne Morkel has replaced Philander. The over looked to be passing by with little to nothing occurring but with the final ball of the over, Ajmal gloves the ball straight to AB de Villiers, who has picked up with 10th catch of the match.

It is worth noting that AB de Villiers is one catch away from the world record for the amount of catches taken during a Test match. He broke South Africa's record with that last dismissal. Umar Gul picks up another three runs and he has moved to 16.

A maiden over from Morkel. Going back to de Villiers, some of his catches in this match have been excellent. He is also struggling with a suspected broken finger so if he does equal or surpass the world record, it will be a fantastic achievement.

Steyn is into his eighth over and he is beginning to cut a frustrated figure as he searches for his 10th wicket of the match. Umar Gul sends him for four to the leg side boundary as Pakistan pick up six runs from the over.

Umar Gul brings up the 250 for Pakistan with a single before Junaid Khan smashes the ball for four. South Africa think they have picked up their ninth wicket when Morkel clean-bowls Junaid, but replays show that he had over-stepped the mark and a no-ball is called. Graeme Smith doesn't look happy...

Just a leg bye is scored during that over and even though he is close to a 10-wicket haul, Smith may be tempted to bring Steyn out of the attack.

Junaid brings up his highest Test score with a boundary through cover before seeing off the over with a strong defence.

WICKET! c Umar Gul (23) c de Villiers b Steyn

Milestones everywhere! With the first ball of the over, Steyn catches the edge of Umar Gul's bat, which AB de Villiers gratefully snaps up. However, the umpire claims that he did not hear a sound, but Graeme Smith asks for a review and the initial decision is overturned. Steyn has his 10th wicket of the match and de Villiers equals the world record for the amount of catches taken in a Test match.

Rahat Ali is the new batsman and he gets off the mark with a single. It is going to be interesting to see who picks up the man of the match award. Steyn has match figures of 10-60, while de Villiers has 11 catches to go with a century in the second innings.

Pakistan make it to the 100-over mark, which is an achievement in itself when you consider the shambles of their first innings. The tourists pick up four byes down the leg side before Rahat strikes the ball past mid-on for two runs.

WICKET! Junaid (9) lbw Steyn

SOUTH AFRICA WIN BY 211 RUNS

South Africa wrap up the Pakistan innings and a 211-run victory. Fittingly, it was Steyn who picked up the final wicket to record his second five-wicket haul of the match by trapping Junaid Khan in front of his stumps for figures of 5-52.

Pakistan were always going to be up against it after their catastrophic 49 all out in the first innings and even though they improved significantly in their second innings, they were outclassed by South Africa, who deservedly take a 1-0 series lead.

We now have a 10-day break until the second Test match begins in Cape Town, and that is perhaps what Pakistan need to remain competitive in the series.

That concludes Sports Mole's coverage today. Thank you for joining us and be sure to return for the second Test match on February 14. Thank you and goodbye.

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