Sadaf Shamas stars as Pakistan clinch another dead rubber

Pakistan managed to round off their tour of South Africa with a win in the final ODI in Durban on Sunday (March 1). Having already conceded the series, Pakistan clinched a dead rubber for the second time this tour with a similar story unfolding the T20I series as well.

The visitors came out with a top batting performance, following on from where they left in the previous game. Despite losing that contest, Pakistan made 345. Sadaf Shamas, who made 61 in that fixture, fared even better this time as she hammered 97 off just 82 balls to set up a strong platform. She put on 130 for the second wicket with Sidra Amin who made 41. South Africa then fought back with a few quick wickets to have Pakistan at 216/5.

However, South Africa couldn't capitalise from there on as skipper Fatima Sana powered Pakistan's charge at the death. Sana smashed five sixes in her 41-ball 60 as Pakistan finished with a strong 306/8. South Africa would have still been fairly confident of hunting it down given they made 365 in the previous game but Pakistan made a top start with the ball.

Tazmin Brits was dismissed in the very first over before Sana handed South Africa a double strike in the second with the big wickets of Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus. Reduced to 7/3, South Africa were in tatters before Faye Tunnicliffe and Annerie Dercksen resurrected the chase with an 85-run stand. That was then followed by a 50-run stand before the wheels came off. Sadia Iqbal ran through the lower order with a three-wicket haul as South Africa suffered a massive collapse - going from 142/4 to 187 all out to hand Pakistan a consolation win by a massive margin of 119 runs.

Brief scores: Pakistan 306/8 in 50 overs (Sadaf Shamas 97, Fatima Sana 60; Sune Luus 3-42) beat South Africa 187 in 36.2 overs (Annerie Dercksen 54; Sadia Iqbal 3-41) by 119 runs