South Africa 'didn't go away', but Pakistan in their comfort zone

It isn't often South Africa deploy a spinner in the first 10 overs of a Test. Spin from both ends is even more unusual, and rarer still in the opening hour of the match.

But there Prenelan Subrayen stood at the top of his run, ready to bowl the sixth over. And there, at the other end before the 11th, stood Simon Harmer.

The XI also includes Senuran Muthusamy, and Keshav Maharaj would surely also have got a game but for the fact that he is on his way back from a groin injury.

The clue to all the slow stuff was the venue: Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, where the first Test started on Sunday. Spinners bowled 75 of the 90 overs sent down on the day, which ended with Pakistan reaching 313/5. The only fast bowlers picked, Kagiso Rabada and Wiaan Mulder, bowled fewer overs between them than any of the frontline spinners.

"It boils down to your skill and making sure you're prepared," Harmer told a press conference. "You understand that it's going to turn, and you know the opposition that you're coming up against and how they're going to play.

"The prep comes down to how you deal with that opponent. Everybody's different, so it's quite a personal thing. But it's about making sure you're confident in your ability because you know that the pressure is going to be growing."

Acknowledging that different conditions demand different approaches is one thing. Tailoring an established playing culture to fit those foreign conditions is distinctly another. South Africa's culture, as dictated by their pitches, is founded on fearsome fast bowling and fine fielding. Batting? They make a plan, even at home.

But the WTC champions will have to find ways to survive and prosper in Asia, which will host six of the 14 Tests they will play in the new cycle. Of the dozen they played to reach the final at Lord's in June, when they beat Australia by five wickets, only two were on the subcontinent.

That said, it's not as if South Africa are clueless on turning surfaces. In away series, only in the Caribbean do they have a higher winning percentage and a lower losing percentage than in Asia.

To do so they have tended to bend the place to their purposes. South Africa's leading wicket-takers in the subcontinent are Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini. Only then does a spinner get a look-in - Maharaj. He has played between 10 and 14 fewer Tests in Asia than the top four, and he is just four wickets away from surpassing Morkel and Ntini.

You might have read this here before, but it bears repeating: Maharaj has single-handedly changed South Africa's relationship with spin bowling. So, when he isn't around, it shows.

Harmer obtained sharp turn consistently and Muthusamy took his two wickets with consecutive deliveries, but the visitors failed to threaten frequently enough - not least because they dropped four catches, three of them not easy. All were off the spinners, as were several other near misses.

"We created chances, we didn't go away," Harmer said. "I think in the subcontinent you need a bit of luck; a drag-on, a nick, umpire's call decisions that don't go your way but on another day they might."

Rabada trapped Abdullah Shafique in front with the third ball of the match, a sniping inswinger. But South Africa's next success didn't come until the 10th over before tea - when Subrayen's arm-ball ended Shan Masood's diligent innings at 76.

Imam-ul-Haq and Masood shared 161, and Imam was seven runs away from his fourth century when Muthusamy found turn and bounce and forced the left-hander into an edge. Tony de Zorzi, at short leg, somehow laid both hands on the ball and held it despite having to contort himself into an awkward crouch and move in two different directions.

Saud Shakeel tried to work the next delivery to leg, but was too early on the stroke and spooned a simple catch to Muthusamy via the leading edge of his bat.

The Pakistanis kept such rashness to a minimum, and by stumps Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman had taken their unbroken stand to 114 with the same level of deliberate, careful, patient batting that was central to the day's play.

What might happen on Monday?

"The odd ball is turning, but I think if anything it'll get lower because the ball deteriorates quickly," Harmer said. "I think that will counter the spin aspect, but I think bounce and the ball keeping low will come into play from tomorrow."

Pakistan know this as well as South Africa do, if not better. What matters, as Harmer said, is the skill and preparation to make the most of that knowledge.