LAHORE, Pakistan - Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini sliced through the Pakistan top order with a four-wicket haul as South Africa survived a late Shahid Afridi charge to record a 45-run victory in the first limited-overs cricket international.A. B. de Villiers (103) and Herschelle Gibbs (102) powered South Africa to a challenging total of 294-5 and then Ntini (4-69) took four wickets in his five overs before Pakistan was dismissed for 249 in 46.3 overs.Hard-hitting batsman Shahid Afridi (47 off 26 balls) and No. 9 rookie Sohail Tanvir (26) added a brisk 43 off 25 balls but their effort came a bit too late to stop South Africa taking 1-0 lead in the five-match series.Ntini exposed Pakistan's weakness against short deliveries with Shoaib Malik (18), Younis Khan (12) and Mohammad Hafeez (6) all falling into the trap. Imran Nazir (16) hit three well timed boundaries before Justin Kemp took a smart reflex catch at short cover as Pakistan slumped to 55-4.To-scorer Mohammad Yousuf (53) hit a fighting half century and shared the highest partnership of the innings when he put on 60 runs with Kamran Akmal (35) before Jacques Kallis got rid of both batsmen in his successive overs.Earlier, a second string Pakistan pace attack failed to restrict South Africa after captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat.De Villiers made an unbeaten 103 off 95 balls while Gibbs scored 102 from 128 deliveries as Pakistan's attack struggled without injured fast bowler Mohammad Asif.De Villiers was ruthless in the latter part of his innings when he hit two sixes and two fours in debutant left-arm fast bowler Tanvir's one over.He completed his century in the 49th over as South Africa hit 77 runs in the last 10 overs. De Villiers hit nine fours and three sixes in his unbeaten century.De Villiers and Gibbs shared a 137-run third wicket stand off 157 deliveries before a tired-looking Gibbs was run out in the 43rd over when he attempted a second run.Gibbs hit 11 fours and a six in scoring his career's 18th hundred.Gibbs laid a platform with Smith (34) on a perfect one-day batting wicket where Pakistan bowlers struggled to get quick breakthroughs. They put on 85 runs off 88 balls before Smith was run out in a mix-up as Gibbs refused to go for a second run.Pakistan had to rely on its back-up pace bowlers after Asif was ruled out due to elbow injury that he incurred during the second test against South Africa last week.Tanvir was named for his one-day international in Asif's absence. His unorthodox bowling action that troubled batsmen in last month's World Twenty20 event in South Africa, could not make much impact on Thursday.Player of the test series Kallis (8) lobbed an easy return catch before Gibbs and De Villiers took charge to setup a strong total.The second game of the five-match series will be played in Lahore on Saturday. Faisalabad (Oct. 23) will host the third match while the remaining two matches will be hosted at Multan (Oct 26) and Karachi (Oct. 29).
