The Cape Town pitch was expected to make Saeed Ajmal a central figure towards the end of the Test but he made an impact as early as the second day, first with the bat in a combative 64-run ninth wicket stand with Tanvir Ahmed and then by removing both South Africa openers just as they seemed to have settled in.
Before Ajmal came to the middle, the headliner was Vernon Philander, whose love affair with Newlands continued as he bagged another five-for - his ninth in 15 Tests. A quick close to the Pakistan innings seemed imminent when he took three wickets in his first three overs on the second day before Tanvir and Ajmal lifted Pakistan to their highest total in South Africa.
Philander began the day with the perfect delivery to centurion Asad Shafiq, nipping away just a touch to force a nick to the keeper. In his next over, he had the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed edging to the slip cordon where Alviro Petersen pulled off a blinder, diving to his right to pluck a low one-handed chance. In Philander's third over, he trapped Umar Gul lbw with a delivery that snaked in.
With the ball swerving around, regularly beating the bat and most of the runs being scored through streaky edges past the slips or the leg stump, South Africa were looking forward to an early end to the innings. There was little sign that Tanvir and Ajmal would prove so hard to dislodge. With the pitch easing up, though, they began to look increasingly solid. Ahmed punched Morne Morkel past long-on for four, and Ajmal smacked Dale Steyn over midwicket for a boundary.
With ten minutes to go to lunch, Jacques Kallis got yet another delivery to sneak past the outside edge, and he roared in frustration as the stand had grown to 64. His mood didn't improve when his next ball zipped past Ajmal's inside edge. The smiles were back for South Africa in the next over, though, as Ahmed launched Robin Peterson only to be caught at mid-off, and debutant Mohammad Irfan, who looked like a proper No. 11, was bowled attempting a big slog soon after.
While Tanvir did an excellent job with the bat, he was less impressive while bowling. Given the new ball ahead of the pacy seven-footer Irfan, Tanvir couldn't get it to move much and delivered at a gentle 120kph.
Gul was more probing at the other end, bowling with the wind on his back, working up a good pace. He nearly had Graeme Smith dismissed for a duck when the opener prodded towards second slip, where the usually safe Younis Khan grassed a sitter. South Africa's openers then made steady, if not flamboyant, progress on a surface where the new ball had proved potent.
Irfan was the quickest bowler in the Test, regularly hitting the 90mph-mark, and though he didn't produce any genuine chances, it wasn't easy going for the batsmen either.
Ajmal was the bowler who got the wickets for Pakistan, after being brought on as early as the 12th over. In his second over, he made the breakthrough, getting Smith lbw on review. Smith had looked to sweep and the umpire had turned down the appeal but Ajmal was extremely confident, repeatedly and emphatically telling his team-mates to review the decision. He had more success soon after as Alviro Petersen, who had seemingly got his eye in after nearly an hour-and-a-half in the middle, nicked to short leg where Azhar Ali pulled off a smart, low catch.
South Africa then sprang a surprise by promoting Faf du Plessis ahead of the prolific pair of Kallis and AB de Villiers. Du Plessis and Hashim Amla took South Africa through to tea, and will have plenty more to do in the final session as the their team finally have a battle on their hands in their home summer.
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