LAHORE, Pakistan, 19 October 2003 — Left-handed opener Taufiq Umer hit a sparkling hundred to guide Pakistan to 275-4 at the close on the second day of the first Test at Gaddafi Stadium yesterday.
Debutant Asim Kamal was on a patient 49 and Shoaib Malik 27 with the home team just 45 runs away from South Africa first-innings score of 320.
Umer made 111 during a three-hour and 22-minute stay at the crease, hitting 16 boundaries. Umer punished the touring bowlers with ease on a day when the talking point was a ban on Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar.
Shoaib was charged with using abusive language against South African tail-ender Paul Adams on Friday and match referee Clive Lloyd handed him a ban of one Test and two One-Day Internationals after conducting a hearing on Friday. Umer batted with confidence and gave Pakistan a solid start with a 109-run stand for the opening wicket with Imran Farhat, who made 41.
Kamal matched Umer in confidence as the two left-handers frustrated the South African bowling with a fourth-wicket stand of 63. The 22-year-local Umer hit Makhaya Ntini for his 15th boundary and then steered him for a single to reach his fourth Test hundred in 16th Test.
