Pakistan vs. South Africa, 1st ODI: Scorecard, Recap and More from Sharjah

South Africa pulled off the mother of all comebacks with an extraordinary one-run win against Pakistan in the first ODI.

They had under-performed with the bat and looked incapable of making waves with the ball—until the home side imploded, turning 165-4 into 182 all out.

South Africa, having won the toss and chosen to bat first, dug themselves an almighty hole when Saeed Ajmal struck to leave the Proteas at 63 for five.

AB de Villiers' wicket was particularly damaging, but the tail did their best to stage some kind of recovery.

David Miller's 37 was a start, but Wayne Parnell's knock, worth 56 runs, was better still.

In the end, 183 was far better than it might have been but still under par.

Pakistan, recovering from the loss of an early wicket, built steadily to 75-1 through Muhammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shahzad, who posted a half century.

The wickets came sporadically, but it looked like a procession with Pakistan drawing to within 19 runs of the target with six wickets in hand.

Then, from nowhere, came the collapse.

Umar Amin edged behind to Lonwabo Tsotsobe, then, in the next over, Imran Tahir collected Umar Akmal. Both bowlers struck again and all of a sudden Pakistan had one wicket left to score the eight runs required for victory.

Mohammed Irfan was subject to a review against Tahir—he was saved only by millimetres and an umpire's call.

A game that had looked drama-free suddenly took an extraordinary twist in the final moments. 

Morne Morkel swept in and bowled the final ball, full, straight and too good for Irfan.

Here is the match scorecard, as given by the BBC:

South Africa Innings 183 all out (49.5 overs)

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Ingram	c U Akmal	b Irfan	0		2	0	0
Smith	st U Akmal	b Ajmal	20	62	25	1	0
Duminy	c Amin	b Tanvir	20	38	36	3	0
du Plessis	lbw	b Ajmal	12	29	26	2	0
AB de Villiers	c and b Ajmal		4	26	12	0	0
Miller	c and b Shahid Afridi		37	74	51	2	1
McLaren	c and b Shahid Afridi		8	31	27	0	0
Parnell	c Shehzad	b Ajmal	56	86	70	6	1
M Morkel	lbw	b Shahid Afridi	4		4	1	0
Tsotsobe	not out		16	59	42	1	1
Tahir	c Riaz	b Tanvir	1	2	4	0	0
Extras		0nb 4w 0b 1lb	5
Total		all out	183	(49.5 ovs)

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Irfan	10.0	1	35	1
Tanvir	9.5	1	33	2
Ajmal	10.0	2	30	4
Riaz	6.0	0	24	0
Hafeez	5.0	0	23	0
Shahid Afridi	9.0	1	37	3

Fall of Wicket
0	Ingram
38	Duminy
48	Smith
54	du Plessis
63	AB de Villiers
86	McLaren
125	Miller
129	M Morkel
181	Parnell
183	Tahir

Pakistan Innings 182 for 10 (46.3 overs)

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Jamshed	c Miller	b M Morkel	0	18	12	0	0
Shehzad	c Smith	b Parnell	58	130	92	5	0
Hafeez	c AB de Villiers	b Parnell	28	71	39	2	0
Misbah-ul-Haq	c du Plessis	b Parnell	31	77	49	3	0
Amin	c AB de Villiers	b Tsotsobe	20	67	38	3	0
U Akmal	lbw	b Tahir	18	31	17	1	1
Shahid Afridi	c Miller	b Tahir	9	12	5	1	0
Tanvir	c AB de Villiers	b Tsotsobe	2	4	3	0	0
Riaz	lbw	b Tahir	0	8	8	0	0
Ajmal	not out		1	19	7	0	0
Irfan		b M Morkel	2	15	9	0	0
Extras		0nb 9w 0b 4lb	13
Total		for 10	182	(46.3 ovs)

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
M Morkel	9.3	3	23	2
Tsotsobe	10.0	3	28	2
Parnell	8.0	1	41	3
Tahir	10.0	1	45	3
McLaren	8.0	0	34	0
Duminy	1.0	0	7	0

Fall of Wicket
4	Jamshed
75	Hafeez
107	Shehzad
135	Misbah-ul-Haq
165	Amin
165	U Akmal
174	Tanvir
176	Shahid Afridi
177	Riaz
182	Irfan