Graeme Smith, the South African captain, heaped praise on his bowlers for decimating Pakistan and setting up a ten-wicket win at Cape Town. "It's one of the best bowling performances I've seen from this team," he told reporters. "The bowling unit took a bit of flak after Durban [where Pakistan scored 351 for 4 to win by 141 runs] but they've been superb for the past few years and today they were fantastic."
Put into bat, Pakistan were bundled out for 107 in the 46th over before Smith and AB de Villiers knocked off the target in just 14 overs. "Every bowler hit fantastic lengths," added Smith. "I don't think the wicket did that much after eight overs, but the pressure we built on them and the way we fielded was an incredible effort."
Shaun Pollock, who bowled brilliantly for his 2 for 13 off ten overs, said a responsive pitch helped South Africa, and singled out a classy fielding unit. "It definitely did a bit for us this morning, but once the heavy roller came on it flattened things out. Every bowler kept the pressure on and gave them nothing for free, and the fielders were also superb."
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan's captain, said he hoped his team would prove more competitive in the final match on Wednesday: "Credit goes to the South African bowlers, but we definitely played poor cricket. I would have said 230 or 240 would have been a good total on this track, then we could have put some pressure on the South Africans.But we're confident that we can play hard cricket in Johannesburg to level the series."
South Africa have an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series ahead of the final match.