Stubbs restores Proteas’ confidence with hard-working half century

Two wickets in the last half an hour for the elderly debutant Asif Afridi, removed the gloss off a workmanlike effort produced by Tristan Stubbs and Tony de Zorzi and kept Pakistan in the ascendancy in the second Test.

The Proteas delivered a Test batting ‘throw-back’ digging in and scoring at around two runs and over for much of their innings on Tuesday and just when it seemed the fruits of all that labour could be enjoyed, Afridi removed De Zorzi and then Dewald Brevis to leave SA on 185/4 at the end of day two.

The still trail by 148 runs, and as Afridi showed with his dismissals at the end and Keshav Maharaj did earlier when he picked up a 12th Test five wicket haul, the surface creates just enough assistance to keep the spin bowlers interested.

For Stubbs, Tuesday was a crucial innings. Having averaged just nine in his last five Tests, he is fortunate to be playing, and it was interesting that he was restored to the no.3 position for this match.

Shukri Conrad caused a minor stir last year when he said that ‘first drop’ would be Stubbs’ position in the batting order. And then having batted there eight times and making his maiden Test hundred in that position, he found himself dropping to down to no.4 and 5 where he struggled to make an impression.

Stubbs’ confidence seemed to be shattered, and he has found it hard to score even in the limited overs formats this year.

On Tuesday he was quite deliberate about his defence and was watchful to an extreme degree when he came to the crease. To some extent his circumspect approach may even have played a part in Aiden Markram’s dismissal.

Stubbs had faced 38 balls and scored just six runs, when Markram, who was looking to put the Pakistani spinners under pressure and had struck Noman Ali for consecutive boundaries the over before, miscued another lofted drive against Sajid Khan, and was caught at long-on.

In fact Stubbs took 61 deliveries to hit his first boundary - a beautiful drive through the covers after he used his feet against Sajid.

He and Tony de Zorzi built a solid foundation and they weren’t rushed in doing so, happy to block over after over against the spinners. Pakistan, who’d used up two of their reviews against Markram, chose not to refer a decision against De Zorzi when the left hardener had five, with TV replays showing Afridi had him out lbw.

It was De Zorzi who gave the partnership impetus as he again showed excellent judgment and created a lovely balance between attack and defence.

A turning point arrived in the 51s over when suddenly there was a burst of scoring with 14 runs coming against Sajid which included a six over midwicket by De Zorzi followed by five overthrow runs from errant hurl at the stumps Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Together the pair added 113 runs for the third wicket, with both batters reaching fifty, Stubbs doing so with a thunderous straight drive for six.

With Pakistan growing irritated at their inability to upset the South African duo’s rhythm, the soon to be 39 year old Afridi - the second oldest man to make a Test debut for Pakistan, struck two critical blows.

He had De Zorzi trapped lbw for 55 a decision that had to be referred to the TV official and produced a ripping delivery that confused Brevis who edged to slip where the reliable Salman Ali Agha took a good low catch.

Earlier Maharaj took 7/102 as Pakistan were bowled out for 333. As was the case in Lahore, the bottom half of their innings fell to pieces as they lost five wickets for 17 runs in eight overs.