Summary Touring Pakistan will take on South Africa Invitation XI in the four-day match today.
The opening match of Pakistan s two-month tour of South Africa, a four-day affair against a South African Invitation XI, will get underway at Buffalo Park, East London today (Friday).
For the newcomers in the Pakistan side this is an opportunity to show they are ready for the big tour. Pakistan team captain Misbah-ul-Haq has termed the South Africa tour as challenging but said his side is ready for that.
The pitch is likely to take spin on the third and fourth days and this is where the tourists will capitalise with their world-class spinners, off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and left-arm orthodox Abdur Rehman, who have bewildered the best Test batsmen in the world, will come into their own.
A player who towers over his teammates, the lanky Pakistan left-arm pace bowler, Muhammad Irfan, who is over 2m tall, looked impressive during practice sessions at the Buffalo Park nets during the week.
The tourists are keen to get him into top form with the first Test only a week away at the Wanderers. Irfan is likely to get some bounce from that pitch.
An entertaining game is thus on the cards, one that management of the touring team has stated will be taken very seriously by the tourists with so little time to run into top form before the Test series begins.
