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Shahid Afridi

He came. He went. He ate a cricket ball. He came back. He retired again. Has there ever been a cricketer who lurched after the limelight as much as Afridi? His last Test - if indeed it is his last Test - was memorable for the kind of ill-disciplined cameos he has become famous for. Your team does not have enough discipline to hang around, so why not mow your fourth ball to deep midwicket. What a leader.

South Africa picked up where they left off in the week's Twenty20 Internationals, while Pakistan continued their same, sorry run of results with a dismal eight-wicket loss in Friday's first ODI in Abu Dhabi.

Again triumphing in the flip of the coin and again opting to bat first, Shahid Afridi's decision to take advantage of the docile track on offer at Sheikh Zayed Stadium seemed it would pay off as Mohammad Hafeez (68) and the returning Younis Khan (54) added 114 runs for the second wicket.

Employing a greater deal of measure than that witnessed across Pakistan's rash batting throughout the year, the duo saw to seamers Charl Langeveldt, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis with relative ease.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe, however, was a much tougher prospect for the half-centurions, bowling superbly across a spell which has surely cemented his name in the Proteas' World Cup squad. The southpaw seamer, employing immaculate line and length and a plethora of sly slower balls, initially created the pressure for spinner Johan Botha (two for 40) to pounce on before racing to career-best figures.

While Botha started the rot in removing Hafeez and Khan in relatively quick succession, Tsotsobe well and truly set the skids under the 'hosts' by getting rid of middle-order frailties Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq to reduce them to 173 for six.

With his four for 27 in the bag, Tsotsobe happily let Morkel and Langeveldt get in on the remainder of scalps as Pakistan's characteristic collapsed came to a halt at 203 all out in 49 overs.

Although Afridi, yet again, was the master of his own demise in throwing his wicket away far too prematurely, his thoughtless approach didn't typify Pakistan's overall batting this time around. Instead, it was the visiting attack that well and truly undid their opposition. Benefiting from the absence of the average Albie Morkel and happy to let Rusty Theron wait in the wings on the back of seamer Kallis' comeback, all is well in the bowling ranks in the build-up to next year's ODI showpiece on the sub-continent.

South Africa's modest chase was made all the more easy by a predictably workmanlike and typically quickfire half-centuries from Kallis and AB de Villiers respectively.

Staving off cramps, which eventually had the beating of him, and the earlier loss of Hashim Amla (35) and Graeme Smith (19), who had to retire hurt after copping a couple of short balls from Shoaib Akhtar to the left hand, Kallis reminded the squad's young guns that the stalwart's stay on the big stage is by no means over.

Indeed, Friday's 66 retired hurt came at a rather pedestrian rate - 88 balls -but, given the need to test his fitness after a long injury lay-off, time out in the middle came as more of a premium than runs at a screaming rate.

Afridi's quest for quick wickets in the face of a below-par score was never forthcoming and, with his and fellow spinner Saeed Ajmal's overs spent and Shoaib Akhtar off the boil, JP Duminy (10 not out) and Colin Ingram (12 not out) had no trouble at all in wrapping up proceedings with all of 10.3 overs to spare to take the Smith's posse to their 10th consecutive ODI victory.