Noman’s Guile, Shaheen’s Fury Down WTC Champions In Lahore Test

If Noman Ali’s canny left-arm spin kept the opposition guessing, Shaheen Shah Afridi’s fiery fast bowling brought an early end to the South African resistance on the fourth afternoon session as they were dismissed for 183-10 and fell 93 runs short of 277 target giving Pakistan a resounding win in the first test match at the Gaddafi stadium here on Wednesday

LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2025) If Noman Ali’s canny left-arm spin kept the opposition guessing, Shaheen Shah Afridi’s fiery fast bowling brought an early end to the South African resistance on the fourth afternoon session as they were dismissed for 183-10 and fell 93 runs short of 277 target giving Pakistan a resounding win in the first test match at the Gaddafi stadium here on Wednesday.

Pakistan are 1-0 head in the two-match test series against the proteas.

Pakistan’s victory meant they halted South Africa’s 10-match winning streak in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) matches. In head-to-head competitions, this is Pakistan’s seventh test win against the proteas with 16 defeats and seven draws. The victory in the first match in the new ICC WTC cycle Pakistan has moved to the second spot on the WTC table with 12 points from its only fixture behind Australia who have won their all three matches and have 36 points.

South Africa had a similar disastrous start to the fourth day’s play as they had the second innings chase when they lost two wickets in the evening session for 18 runs but here, they lost two wickets for 5 runs when first innings centurion Tony de Zorzi lost his wicket to Shaheen Shah Afridi’s reverse swing as the ball nipped back and hit the pads in front of the wickets without adding to the overnight score of 16 (47). He reviewed the decision but the snickometer did not detect any edge.

Tristan Stubbs 2 (8) did not have a dissimilar fate to the first innings’ as he played a premeditated reverse sweep to a Noman Ali turning ball and was caught by Slaman Agha in the slips. The review was lost as the UltraEdge confirmed the ball brushing the bat.

Ryan Rickelton got a life at 60-4 when Mohammad Rizwan missed a stumping chance off Noman Ali. The ball was too wide to handle and that saved the batter.

Ryan Rickelton 45 (145) was still at the crease and looked to repeat his first innings heroics as he was joined by firebrand explosive young Dewald Bervis. They gave some meaning to the team’s fight to knock down the total which had never been chased by a team at Gaddafi stadium. Bervis 54 (54) came hard on Noman Ali and hit him for multiple boundaries but he was clean bowled off an excellent ball by Noman Ali. The ball was looped towards the leg-side and as Brevis played the ball on the leg it turned sharply to smash into the off-stump, leaving the batter bamboozled.

Rickelton and Brevis built a meaningful partnership of 73 runs off 97 balls and Brevis’ departure would have given Pakistan a sigh of relief.

Their partnership would have given a scare to Pakistan but his departure would have reassured their self-belief.

Rickelton put up serious resistance but it looks Brevis’s fall had him lose control as he was caught by Salman Agha in the first slip off Sajid Khan which gave Sajid Khan first wicket of the second innings. Ball had pitched outside leg stump and as the batter tried to play it on the leg the sharp turn took a sharp edge and rested in the hands of the first slip fielder.

Senuran Muthusamy 6 (14) had a brief stay at the wicket and snared him lbw to give Pakistan the seventh with the team total teetering at 144-7. Wicket-keeper batter Kyle Verreynne 19 (48) who had built a small partnership of 10 runs with Muthusamy, was also joined in a 19-run partnership with Simon Harmer before he fell to a pacy delivery which remained low right in front of the middle stump and left the crease.

In an inspired spell of fast bowling Shaeen Shah Afridi evoked fond memories of the great Wasim Akram as he claimed last three wickets Verreynne, Subrayen and Kagiso Rabada and brought the proteas to their knees. He bowled with fire and precision and the last two Yorkers were unplayable.

In the post-match press conference, Pakistan captain Shan Masood said that Shaheen came to him of his own accord and asked to bowl when the spinners went wicketless for almost eight over.

Tristan Stubbs lasted only eight balls as he was caught in the slips reverse sweeping Noman Ali for 2 (8) with the team total at 55-4.

Shaheen Shah Afridi bagged 4 for 33 in 8.5 overs. Noman Ali who took 10-wicket haul in the match snared four players through his guile gave away gave 79 runs in marathon 28 overs for four wickets. Sajid Khan picked two wickets for 38 runs in 14 overs. Hasan Ali and Salman Agha remained wicketless.

Noman Ali was adjudged player of the match for the match-defining bowling performance of 10-192.

Scorecard:

Pakistan 378 all out, 110.4 overs (Imam ul Haq 93, Salman Ali Agha 93, Shan Masood 76, Mohammad Rizwan 75; Senuran Muthusamy 6-117, Prenelan Subrayen 2-78) and 167 all out, 46.1 overs (Babar Azam 42, Abdullah Shafique 41, Saud Shakeel 38; Senuran Muthusamy 5-57, Simon Harmer 4-51)

South Africa 269 all out, 84 overs (Tony de Zorzi 104, Ryan Rickelton 71; Noman Ali 6-112, Sajid Khan 3-98) and 183 all out, 60.5 overs (Dewald Brevis 54, Ryan Rickelton 45; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-33, Noman Ali 4-79, Sajid Khan 2-38)