By Peter Deeley in Port Elizabeth
THE Waqar and Wasim roadshow hit town yesterday as South Africa struggled to avoid another debacle against the Pakistan attack on the opening day of the third and final Test.
Waqar Younis took five wickets for the 20th time in his career to go within one of 250 Test victims and Wasim Akram, fresh from the Old Trafford training ground, collected one late on.
But after South Africa had lost four wickets before lunch - all to Waqar - captain Hansie Cronje rallied them as the wicket eased and the home side finished on 262 for seven.
Cronje cast off his pre-Test blues and twice in successive overs lofted Mushtaq Ahmed for six over midwicket. Then on 85, five minutes before the close, Waqar took the new ball and trapped him leg before with one that nipped back and struck the top of the back pad.
With South Africa one down in the series, Cronje saw three of his young batsmen dismissed by Waqar in the space of 22 deliveries.
Rashid Latif, the new man at Pakistan's helm, put his opponents in and Adam Bacher and Jacques Kallis were out offering no stroke to Waqar's line on off.
Hylton Ackerman was bowled between bat and pad and the Glamorgan fast bowler claimed his fourth wicket with the last ball before lunch - when South Africa were 81 for four - as Gary Kirsten got an inside edge.
Cronje and Andrew Hudson began the recovery and Hudson survived one chance before leg-spinner Mushtaq had him caught pad-bat at silly point.
Cronje too benefited from a dropped chance when an edge flew low to Wasim's right hand at second slip. The South African captain hooked Waqar handsomely to go to his fifty and he and Shaun Pollock added 78 for the sixth wicket.
Wasim had not looked dangerous but broke the partnership when Pollock edged to second slip. Mark Boucher helped Cronje in another half-century stand and followed his captain's example putting Mushtaq high over the scoreboard.
Waqar paid tribute to Wasim's return to the side after his recent troubles. ``His presence at the other end inspires me more than any other bowler,'' he said.
Day 3: De Villiers saves best until last as Pakistan crumble
By Peter Deeley in Port Elizabeth
TWENTY-FOUR hours after announcing his retirement, Fanie de Villiers swung the ball with gusto to flatten Pakistan and collect his best figures of six for 23. At 33, he is stepping down for family life. Even the prospect of bowling on English wickets for South Africa this summer will not change his mind.
``It's important to retire at a time when people will still miss you,'' he said, and they will certainly not forget him after yesterday, when he twice stood on the threshold of a hat-trick. In the space of 11.5 overs between lunch and tea, de Villiers scythed his way through the Pakistan lower order after Allan Donald had begun the process with four wickets in 13 balls.
South Africa finished the third day - in which 15 wickets fell 281 ahead at 94 for two and, given fair weather, should level the series 1-1 in this final Test.
Pakistan are once more in disarray. Though they were caught on a pitch which had greened up after Saturday's play had been washed out and their attack lacked Mushtaq Ahmed, who has strained neck muscles, they have only themselves to blame for changing a winning side in order to accommodate the new captain Rashid Latif.
To add poignancy to de Villiers's farewell in his 18th Test, a player who has done much to work among the under-privileged youth in this country has just been accused of being a racist following trouble with spectators in the Durban Test.
``That hurt a lot,'' de Villiers said. ``It was totally unfair and shocking.''
De Villiers's captain, Hansie Cronje, defended his players against the allegations. Cronje said he was speaking for the entire team in refuting suggestions that some had racially abused spectators during last week's second Test.
This is to be the subject of a United Cricket Board disciplinary inquiry at the end of the third Pakistan Test.
Cronje said Donald and Jacques Kallis were ``consistently abused'' in racial terms by members of the public at Durban. One spectator had been singled out and Pat Symcox and fitness trainer Paddy Upton were sent to reason with him and invite him to the players' area to explain his grievances. However, the man refused and next day a complaint was lodged against Symcox and Upton as well.
Earlier yesterday, Waqar Younis collected his sixth wicket when Pakistan quickly cleaned up the South African tail. It was Waqar's 250th wicket, reached in his 51st Test, and only Dennis Lillee has got to that mark in fewer games - 48.
Donald's first three overs were innocuous but as soon as he switched ends, there was a clatter of wickets. He also took two wickets in consecutive deliveries before Inzamam-ul-Haq prevented the hat-trick with a bristling cover drive for four.
The wind was helping de Villiers's away swing but he still has the ability to get the short ball to lift on a slow wicket. Waqar and Shoaib Aktar fell in successive balls fending off deliveries and the hat-trick was a fingertip away as Mushtaq edged him just over the slips for four.
An unbeaten 30 by Wasim Akram saved Pakistan from the follow-on with the last man at the crease.
Day 4: South Africa scent victory
By Peter Deeley in Port Elizabeth
SOUTH AFRICA are on the verge of squaring this series in the third and final Test after their bowlers once more reduced Pakistan to the status of also-rans.
Another three wickets and Hansie Cronje and his men will be able to claim overall superiority in the winter's home-and-away series between the two countries: South Africa won 1-0 in Pakistan before Christmas.
Hope has virtually vanished for the tourists. When bad light ended the fourth day they were 120 for seven and needing another 274 runs for an improbable victory.
When South Africa batted on for the first half of the day, to set Pakistan a goal of 394 for victory, Waqar Younis collected another three wickets to take his tally for the game to 10 for 133, the fifth time in his career he has reached th
Day 5: Cronje's triumph eases race issue
Peter Deeley in Port Elizabeth
IN their moment of triumph over Pakistan yesterday the South African players' first thought was for the township children, who had been bussed into the third Test at St George's Park in their thousands.
As one man the team turned towards the crowd of youngsters mostly non-white - bowing, waving, applauding appreciation for their support. It was a gesture of more than symbolic significance for a heavy cloud, the issue of racialism, hangs over the game in South Africa just now.
Two players, Pat Symcox and Fanie de Villiers, and the fitness trainer Paddy Upton today appear before a United Cricket Board disciplinary tribunal, accused of racist abuse towards young spectators in the Test at Durban.
After the 259-run win Hansie Cronje was as much at pains to talk about the side's commitment to a South African team representative of all its peoples as he was to discuss the success, which left the series tied 1-1.
He disclosed that after Pakistan's win in Durban, the team had been given a dressing-down by board members and selectors. ``They told us we had to jack up our performance: they spoke hard to us,'' he said.
The result was clear for all to see. Cronje said his side had shown ``enthusiasm, discipline and commitment - the necessary ingredients for successful Test cricket''.
Pakistan were swept aside in a fraction over three days playing time, and the key was probably Allan Donald's bowling at this ground - tongue-twistingly described by a radio commentator as the fast bowler's ``happy grunting-hound''.
In this game Donald took eight for 74 in 28 overs, and Pakistan's dislike for his aggression was so evident that, in Cronje's words, ``you could see it by their eyes''.
Victory was South Africa's within 25 minutes of the last day and fittingly, in his last game before retirement, the final act belonged to Fanie de Villiers when he uprooted Shoaib Akhtar's off stump.
De Villiers, 33, took his leave on a day when youthful talent had its reward. Mark Boucher, 21, took one more catch to equal the South African wicketkeeping record of nine dismissals in a game. He also hit a half-century, winning the man of the match award in his fourth Test.
The Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, 23, scooped the individual series award on his first overseas tour.