Pakistan target runs, de Villiers

Distill cricket into its simplest part and it is a game about runs. Not Powerplays or fielding restrictions or the size of the field, but runs. Plain and simple.

So what do you do if you can't get the runs you need?

"If we have deficiencies in the batting line-up, we can cover it up with some really good fielding and support our bowling line-up that has been doing really well for us," Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan's captain said.

Pakistan are not the only team who have chased unsuccessfully in the competition so far. Neither are they the only outfit without a centurion, but something about their line-up just isn't clicking. The opening pair lacks gravitas, the middle-order is almost entirely dependent on Misbah, and the finishers don't often have anything to finish off.

Although they have managed three totals over 300 in their last 10 ODIs, the rest makes for grim reading. In the other seven innings, they have only got over 250 once. But Pakistan are coming off the back of their highest score in eight innings and have "gained some confidence," and by implication "determination," which Dale Steyn has taken note of.

"They'll come out guns blazing, I don't mean guns blazing like swinging the bat, but they'll come out looking to pull off a win," Steyn said.

If Pakistan have any hope of overcoming South Africa, getting past the 250 mark is their first challenge. If they can achieve it, Misbah believes they have the arsenal to finish the match off. "We know that we've got a bowling attack where if we cross 250, no team in the world could relax chasing that 250," he said.

What about a team that has managed two successive totals of 400? The consensus among most sides is that the only way to stop South Africa is to stop their leader, AB de Villiers. Misbah shares that sentiment.

"AB, no doubt, at the moment you could he's say the best batsman in the world in limited-over cricket. Obviously we've got some plans, and we have good bowlers who can really just put him under pressure but the only way of stopping AB is just try to get him out. If he's there, it's not easy to stop him. I think the only way is to get him out."

Steyn, though, has warned that will not be easy. "I'd trip him on his way out of the hotel tomorrow morning and hope that he breaks his ankle. I don't know how you stop him," Steyn joked. "He's a serious player and seeing the ball like no other player is seeing a cricket ball before, and he's playing shots that I don't think most people have seen before. The only way you can get him is if he gets himself out."

Or if you're able to produce something spectacular, which is what Pakistan have been working on, although the results have yet to show. They've put down catches including Virat Kohl in Adelaide, who was 76 at the time and went on to make 107, Marlon Samuels twice and Lendl Simmons in Christchurch although neither were too costly, and Craig Ervine and Elton Chigumbura in Brisbane.

The fluffed chances have cancelled out the incisive bowling but if they take their chances, Misbah is hopeful they can make up for even a batting collapse.

"We've got some weaknesses in the field. When it comes to Pakistan, we don't have that sort of athleticism which South Africa, New Zealand or Australia do, but the guys are working hard and trying their best," Misbah said.

As the captain himself has implied, against top teams, only the best will do.