Amla and Elgar set up Proteas six-wicket victory

HASHIM AMLA and Dean Elgar scored half-centuries and shared the only century partnership of the match to set the Standard Bank Proteas up for a six-wicket victory over Pakistan with a session and two full days to spare in the opening Castle Lager Test match at SuperSport Park on Friday. Although the Proteas lost a few wickets at the end the deal was virtually done by the time Elgar (50 off 123 balls, 10 fours) was dismissed after making his 13th Test half-century. He and Amla shared a partnership of 119 in 42 overs after Aiden Markram had been dismissed without a run on the board with Amla finishing unbeaten on 63 (148 balls, 11 fours). In the process he completed 1 000 Test match runs against Pakistan at an average in excess of 52. It was South Africa’s 13 Test match victory in 24 outings against Pakistan. The match was effectively won in the final session on day two when the Proteas seized the moment to take 9 Pakistan wickets for 90 runs. As well as Pakistan bowled on the third day they were simply left with too small a total to defend. Duanne Olivier was named Castle Lager Man of the Match for his career best match figures of 11/96. The second Test match starts at PPC Newlands on January 3 and the final one at the Bidvest Wanderers on January 11.