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Summary
South Africa 228-9 beat Pakistan 226-9 by two runs. South Africa narrowly avoided a second successive last-over defeat by Pakistan as they won a thrilling third one-day international in Dubai. Chasing a South African total of 228, built largely around Hashim Amla's unbeaten 119, Pakistan were initially stifled but fought back superbly.Fawad Alam's 59 looked to have swung the game in their favour late on. But Saeed Ajmal was bowled by the penultimate ball and Shoaib Akhtar could not hit the four needed to win. It appeared as though the less likely source of Alam was about to do the same for his side at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The 25-year-old may have started slowly, but he accelerated in the third and final power play to put his side on the brink of a victory that would put them 2-1 ahead in the five-game series. However, needing 12 runs from the final over, Alam was prevented from hitting boundaries. When he lost partner Ajmal it left last man Akhtar with the difficult task of hitting a boundary off the bowling of Rusty Theron, and it was a feat that proved beyond him. JP Duminy (26), AB De Villiers (19), Albie Morkel (19) and Johan Botha (15) were the only other South African batsmen to make double figures, while Akhtar, with 3-39, was the pick of a strong Pakistan bowling display, which also saw Afridi and Hafeez collect two wickets apiece. South Africa take their 2-1 series lead into Friday's fourth one-day international, also to be played in Dubai.
