Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf. - Reuters

FAISALABAD, Pakistan, (Reuters):

ANOTHER SPLENDID innings from Mohammad Yousuf led Pakistan to a six-wicket win over South Africa in the third one-dayer at the Iqbal stadium yesterday.

Yousuf followed up scores of 53 and 117 with an unbeaten 58 as Pakistan reached their target of 198 with 11 balls to spare to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

The experienced Yousuf shared a stand of 79 with captain Shoaib Malik (42) and an unbroken partnership of 55 with Misbah-ul-Haq (29 not out).

Bowled out

South Africa were bowled out for 197 in 49.2 overs. Skipper Graeme Smith top scored with 48 while Justin Kemp contributed 42.

"I think on this pitch between 220 and 230 would have been a defendable total," Smith said.

"We made things difficult for ourselves by losing too many wickets in the last 10 overs."

Smith praised Yousuf for his patient innings and said his was a key wicket now for South Africa.

"He held their innings together and I think they are now looking for him to bat throughout the innings while the others take chances around him. We need to play really well to come back into the series now," added Smith.

Shahid Afridi (3-37) and Rao Iftikhar (3-33) made the visitors rue their decision to bat first as they lost their last six wickets for 35 runs.

Afridi, promoted to opener, then gave Pakistan a rousing start by smashing 32 from 18 balls with two sixes and four fours on a pitch that was slow and sluggish.

When Afridi was caught by Smith at mid-off from Shaun Pollock's bowling, the hosts struggled to maintain the same scoring rate.