Cape Town (Agencies): Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma both made half-centuries Friday to give South Africa a 104-run lead over Pakistan on the second day of the second Test at Newlands.
Captain Faf du Plessis scored a dogged 33 not out to take his side to 4-188 at lunch on day.
Du Plessis was 80 not out and Bavuma 60 not out to put South Africa in prime position to win the match and the series as it went to tea on 281-4 in its first innings.
Pakistan’s bowlers didn’t have the same success as South Africa’s at Newlands, where the tourists were bowled out for 177 in their first innings. Pakistan went through the second session without a breakthrough.
Pakistan’s best moment came early in the day, in the second over, when Mohammad Abbas bowled Hashim Amla with a delivery that jagged back dramatically and knocked the leg stump out of the ground.
South Africa had added only three runs to its overnight score of 123-2, and Amla nothing to his overnight score of 24, when Abbas struck. Pakistan also removed Theunis de Bruyn for 13 to have South Africa 149-4 before the du Plessis-Bavuma stand threatened to take the game and the series away.
South Africa already leads the three-test series 1-0 after a six-wicket win in Centurion.
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/wk), Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, Theunis de Bruyn, Faf du Plessis (capt), Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Duanne Olivier