Date-stamped : 18 Feb1998 - 02:18 14-18 February 1998 1st Test: South Africa v Pakistan, New Wanderers, Johannesburg Reports by Trevor Chesterfield Day 2: World record gives SA edge in Test Johannesburg - Setting world records needs a little luck as well as a touch of competitive spirit and two unlikely South Africans carved their names in the test roll of honour at the Wanderers yesterday. For Pat Symcox, however, the second day of this first test in a series against Pakistan already drenched in controversy, will always stay with him. On a day Symcox, the veteran, achieved a personal ambition by scoring a maiden test century and calmed the nerves of the fresh-faced rookie, Mark Boucher, South Africa wrested the initive from Pakistan. At the close of a dramatic, eventual day's play where 31 overs were lost to rain and bad light and we had the fiasco of the first floodlight play in a test in this country, Pakistan were reduced to 106 for four for still 258 behind a South African first innings total of 364. But most of the heroics came before lunch as Symcox and Boucher, who had added 130 all-important runs in their ninth-wicket Partnership on Saturday, continued to taunt and tease the Pakistan bowlers. They smashed boundaries, cheekily grabbed singles and galloped through for endearing twos: all cheered on by a crowd eager to heap adulation on the tailenders. It was a square drive for four by wicketkeeper Boucher of Waqar Younis which broke the South African ninth-wicket record of 135, held by Chud Langton and Eric Dalton, and set against England at The Oval almost 63 years ago. The next milestone to be eclipsed came shortly before noon when a crashing drive by Symcox the South African duo shatter the 190 held by Pakistanis Asif Iqbal and Intikhab Alam, also scored against England at The Oval, in 1967. Through all this drama Symcox wondered about his approaching century. He had been told by Graeme Pollock that in an hour's play you are likely to get six bad balls, and these must be punished. But the tall all-rounder opted for caution and picked them off in singles. "It was gnawing at me a little," he admitted. "But it was the best way to do it. Take the sin gles that are there and let the boundaries come when you get the loose ball." The thought of being only the third batsman at 10 in the order to score a century - the last was Reg Duff in 1902 - also weighed within his thoughts. While he surpassed Duff's total of 104, he fell short of WW Read's 118. "It is hard to score a century," he said. "A bit like trennch warfare. You need to be patient." Ironically his previous first-class century was for Northerns B against Transvaal B in Pietersburg in the 1985-86 season. Yet the day's drama was far from over as the Pakistan skipper, Aamir Sohail was a victim of a catch behind which Shaun Pollock will no doubt feel a touch embarrassed about, and when Saeed Anwar followed two minutes later, picked up by Daryll Cullinan of Allan Donald, the game was on. But it took aa lively spell from Lance Klusener to pep up the afternoon. With floodlighting and lightning acting as a surreal backdrop fit for any Wagnarian opera, the Natal all-rounder seemed miffed when Mahmood Wasim drove him crisply for four. You could almost hear the Zulu greeting he gave Wasim over that stroke. But with the 27th ball he bowled he removed Wasim and then Inzamam-ul-Haq six balls later with a delivery that held up and zipped back to flatten the off-stump. Day 3: Azhar scores ton as SA again spill their chances Johannesburg - On an afternoon of high farce which resulted in the image of a test match being reduced to near slapstick comedy South Africa's fielding slipped beneath even the lowly levels reached at Adelaide. While umpires Cyril Mitchley and Peter Willey were embarrassed by the floodlighting experiment which led to two farcical stoppages for bad light, Pakistan were allowed to recover from 112 for five to 329 and cut South Africa's hard-won first innings lead to only 35. Pakistan's batsman, notably centurion Azhar Mahmood, did what they could manipulate the light situation with delaying tactics. Even before the floodlights were switched on he had achieved a small victory in forcing the umpires to take the players off. But the main culprit for South Africa's second lack lustre fielding performance in consecutive tests was their inability to hold their catches. It is now 15 in two tests and the virus picked up at Adelaide popped up at the Wanderers, affecting the new players in the side. The problem was compounded as Gary Kirsten seemed to lose sight of posting a third man early on while the bowlers allowed the batsmen far too much width on a pitch they failed to exploit. and by the time Pat Symcox was brought into the attack, it had all but become one dimensional: all pace and no variety. The conditions would have suited a Fanie de Villiers or Steve Elworthy, but the national selectors seem to have withdrawn any invitation to a Northerns player. And if the game ends in a draw, as seemed most likely last night, five dropped catches and a shoddy wicketkeeping performance from Mark Boucher can be blamed. Boucher, who pulls his head out of the way when the ball skids through, committed a cardinal 'keepers error by poaching a catch offered by Moin Kahn to first slip. Dropped when 12 by Andrew Hudson with the score at 114, a further 71 runs were added to the Pakistan total when Boucher dived in front of Daryll Cullinan to add further blemish to the fielding misdemeanours. Although Dave Richardson tried to lighten the load by praising his protege, Boucher's clumsiness extended to 11 byes. Allan Donald, off before lunch with a reported viral infection, put down Mushtaq Ahmed when he was nine and the score 254 while 19 runs later Azhar was missed by Cullinan when he had 95 and Kirsten added to the team's woes by spilling a chance when he had 132 to his name. "All very disappointing," reflected the South African coach Bob Woolmer after the day's play. "More so as we have worked hard at our fielding for this match." He also agreed the South Africa bowlers bowled too wide before lunch, especially to Azhar, and they failed to utilise the pitch conditions which are still strongly in favour of the seam and swing bowlers, of which South Africa have none. Azhar, who scored a century against South Africa in the test at Rawalpindi earlier this season, was given far too much lee way to score his runs. He flashed the willow around and made nonsense of the theory that he would be cut down by an unplayable delivery. He rode his luck; did not get the unplayable ball and was allowed to take another century of the South African bowling. He did pretty well against the West Indies as well. As for the lifter from Donald which hit him on the helmet he shrugged and smiled. "It's all part of the game," he said in broken English. He smiled again when asked if he enoyed taking runs off the South African bowlers. "The ball's there to be hit . . . isn't that so?" he queried through Waqar Younis who came to his rescue to interpret the answers during the interview. Trevor Chesterfield, Cricket writer, Pretoria News tche@ptn.independent.co.za Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)