South Africa vs Pakistan, 7th Match Group B at Birmingham, , Jun 07 2017 - Ball by Ball Commentary

10.10pm Phew. That's that, then. A long, wet evening in Birmingham, and Pakistan have announced they are in this tournament. Their win has opened up this group brilliantly, and gives tomorrow's India-Sri Lanka game an extra dimension. Do join us for that, as I'm sure you will, and keep sending in your comments. Until then, good night!

Sarfraz Ahmed: "It's a very important win for us. Credit goes to our bowlers and fielders. We were good in all departments today. Steve Rixon was very happy today, we didn't field well the other day, today we were much better. It's a very important game. We had a meeting and a very good meeting. We worked very hard, the one practice session we hard. It was not outdoors, but we worked really hard for the match."

AB de Villiers: "They bowled pretty well, put us under pressure. We lost some wickets, which wasn't a great response for us, but we recovered well thanks to David and a few other guys who put up partnerships. We fought really well on the field, got into a very good position. Whether it was par score or not doesn't matter. It's a difficult situation, you never know what to do. If I had known it would only be 27 overs, I would have attacked a lot more on the field. We have to up our ante a bit. We started well, we know which areas to work on. The hamstring is okay, felt a little tweak, but we'll check it out tomorrow. I don't think it's too serious."

Hasan Ali is the Player of the Match. "It was a team effort," he says. "Coach gave me a plan, and I just stuck to that. I dropped Yuvi in the previous match and he scored a lot. We all worked very hard on our fielding. It was raining, so we didn't really do any fielding practice before the match. It's very important for me, getting this award, because it's my first ICC event."

9.45pm That's right, folks, the match has been called off. Pakistan have won by 19 runs (DLS method). Another heavily rain-influenced game, but this was a win that had a whole lot more to do with a sensational bowling performance from Pakistan. Some hiccups in their chase thanks to Morne Morkel, but their batsmen did just about enough to keep them ahead of the DLS par score. In those 27 overs, we saw a memorable little debut innings from Fakhar Zaman, a thrilling spell from Morkel, and important batting contributions from Hafeez, Babar and Shoaib Malik. Player of the match, for me, would have to be Hasan Ali, and his dismissal of Wayne Parnell an early contender for ball of the tournament.

Akshad: "Pakistan finally have managed to win a Champions Trophy game after eight yrs. They had lost last six consecutive CT matches since 2009."

9.40pm It's still drizzling, but the Super Soppers continue to prowl the covers and the outfield, to minimise the damage. Firdose, however, says the rain might be "perhaps harder now".

The umpires are going out. Hang on. We could have some news. "Sopper is stopping," Firdose says. "And the pegs are coming off the covers." And, a minute later, "Now the covers are being fixed down. With intent. As in like they are never coming off again. Called off."

9.30pm We have under an hour to go for cut-off time, and it's still drizzling at Edgbaston.

Haris: "Futher to Mazhar's calculation, he might be right actually since there is a difference between DLS par and DLS target. DLS target won't change with fall of wickets when the innings is restarted P.S. Cricinfo posted a brief video about DLS for better understanding"" -- Indeed.

Jawad Paul: "There is a difference between 'Par Score' and 'Target'. Mazhar is right"

Bilal: "I think Mazhar is wrong because if Pakistan lose wickets in those 3 overs the par score will change, and Pakistan could then find themselves below the DLS target even within the next 3 overs " -- Someone already asked Mazher that question. His answer: "That is a different scenario. What I'm saying is if 21 overs are lost, PAK's target will be 118 in 29 overs which is already achieved."

9.20pm Firdose says it "looks almost almost almost as though it has stopped", and that what remains are only "little drops". "Tiny," she clarifies. Still, even if those tiny drops do cease entirely, there's the question of all the sopping that remains to be done. Cut-off time is just over an hour away.

More news, from the statistician Mazher Arshad. "To restart match we need at least 3 ovs (in which Pak will need 7 runs)," he tweets. "Pak won't bat if its less than 3 ovs cos target is already achieved."

9.00pm Word from George Dobell at Edgbaston: "Umpires talking to groundstaff now. Rain did stop for a while, but looks as if it has restarted. Only takes 20 minutes to remove covers but how fit it will be.... more play isn't impossible, but is unlikely."

Osama: "I hope Sri lanka pulls off a win against India. Would make the final games of the group stages quarter finals. No NRR business!"

Calcu: "No pak NRR will be -105/68 as Sa's score will be considered 100 in 27 overs." -- Ah, fair point. I went with their 50-over score.

Yasin Musani: "Taha's question is my question but why you don't post it? " -- Because 73,942 people sent in that exact same question at the exact same time and I couldn't put each of them up.

Taha: "If further play isnt possible, what will be Pakistan's net run rate? Anyone?" -- By my calculations, minus 1.33. Which doesn't sound great, but is a fairly big improvement from minus 3.024.

Jamie Dow: "With the rain tanking down, this may not be the best moment to express a sense of grievance at the fact that NONE of the #CT2017 games, or of the Women's World Cup games are being played in the North. None of Headingley, Old Trafford, Chester-le-Street, or even Trent Bridge get a look-in! Maybe, this rain on the Southern-dominated tournament is God's vengeance for the neglect of his Own Country and neighbouring regions!"

8.55pm: The soppers are out in the middle, keeping the covers as dry as they can. But it is still drizzling, so it is all thoroughly futile.

Abdullah: "Can everybody please stop blaming AB's decision to Bat first? Pakistan was a better team today and was in total control throughout the match. AB's decision and weather can't take that away from Pakistan" -- Agree entirely. Right from the time Hafeez and Imad bowled in tandem and sucked the momentum out of South Africa's innings.

8.45pm It's still raining at Edgbaston. Super Soppers rumbling up and down the covers.

This day, last year. Australia skittled South Africa out for 189, and in a 1983 World Cup final style twist, South Africa managed to sneak a 47-run win. Will they even get a chance to pull chestnuts out of the fire today?

SanjayN: "One doesn't need hindsight. The weather forecast was strong, since yesterday it's been forecasting rain starting 6pm-ish and continuing all through the night and all day tomorrow. ABdV's decision-making in this game has been shockingly poor. You can see why the Saffers underperform in ICC events, they constantly shoot themselves in the foot."

Shahzad: "Can someone please confirm the cut off time ?" -- It's 10.26pm.

8.32pm Still raining. Has got rather heavy in fact. SA's chances not looking too good currently. Karthik is back on rain-watch.

On a side note, I know South Africa like batting first, but felt their decision at the toss wasn't right. With weather around and the strength of chasing teams, teams should always look to chase. Easy in hindsight too. Anyway, as you were ...

Hasan: "Don't think that the rain is a good thing for Pakistan too. They needed the confidence of chasing down a total against a top quality side."

Ali M: "I see a lot of comments here on South Africa missing out, Pakistan looked the favorite team with Malik and Babar opening up hitting even Morkel for boundaries. 100 runs left with plenty of wickets and overs."

Qasim: "Rain and South Africa! I am sure there is a Shakespearean Tragedy that can be written about them..."

Wajid Jawaid : "Accuweather Minutecast predicts rain for the next 2 hours at Edgbaston. We may already have seen the last ball bowled in this match"

Kaushik Ramacha: "AB has missed a trick here, in more ways than one. He should have bowled out Morkel (the 3 overs would have given him one more wicket or reduced Pakistan score), also would have helped Morkel finish his overs. That way he could have got all of the 10 overs of his best bowler and D/L restriction on max overs could have been avoided."

8.02pm Still raining, says Firdose from Edgbaston. We have time till after 10 PM, so plenty of time.

Jake Timmins: "You can criticise the weather (and yes it is terrible) but we deal with it every year and most seasons it's absolutely fine (except for the odd day) so to use the weather as an excuse for changing locations doesn't really suffice. If this was played 3 weeks ago we wouldn't have missed a day to rain. Just unfortunate it's raining so much the last week. "

Huzaifa: "Can we please get updates more often? Have been constantly refreshing cricinfo since the past 20 minutes, without many updates..." I would if something was there to keep you up-to-date with. Currently, you are.

Vamsi: "It's already past midnight here in India.Is it worth staying awake or should I go to sleep?" I know which I'd choose

Sriram Sridhar: "Man of the series should go to Rain. Consistent performance during crucial times in most of the games."

Tahsin: "@Dann: Exactly, and that's why it's baffling as to why such a major tournament is being held at a country where it rains all the time. Surely a better location could've been chosen, especially since the last one was also held in England."

Prasanna S: "The rainy season can also bring few new records. For example Aussies have a chance to reach semis without winning any game"

7.42pm And off go the players. Yikes. The DLS par is 100, they're 19 runs ahead of that. Doesn't look terrible overhead. It's quite gloomy but has been that way for the entire second innings. The side covers go on. Run-ups covered too. Plenty of time before we start losing overs. I guess we need to finish the game by 10.15 PM, so count backwards from there to get your answers.

It's been a tournament of rain delays, hasn't it? Pakistan will win by 19 runs, if it ends like this. How's that possible, you ask? We've got you covered on how DLS works, with our explainer.

Abbas Naqvi: "Babar played really well so far. Pakistan is 19 runs ahead of DLS par. Seems a comfortable win if they don't lose wickets. Morne Morkel done a great job with the ball as well."

Dann: "D/L taking a lot of stick, but what can you do? This is England, so having reserve days wouldn't solve it either. Reserve months maybe would. "

Heavier

Free hit

Umbrellas going up.

More rain

Amnah : "Next time in ICC tournament, SA would like Pak to play its first match against SA. Pak likes to make a comeback after losing its 1st match similar to what it did in 2015 WC. "

Have to bring back Tahir soon. He's SA's best wicket-taking option.

Max: "Only thing standing between Pakistan and victory is Mr. Morne. No comments for this SA's Hero? He has been doing this from many years in ODI's"

Ali Imtinan: "The reason why India has become a far more professional side than Pakistan is because they no longer look to accomodate players. They would drop Dhoni the instance he stops performing, however, Pakistan sticks with a burden of a player rather than letting the ideal No.4, the captain himself bat at that position."

Pradeep: "Even though it was a slow inngs from Hafeez, it might still have played a role in Pak win today if the rest of the batsmen take them home from where he left"

Javed: "Shoaib Malik needs to bat higher up the order. Clearly understands and reads the game better than Hafeez."

Dez: "Local forecast has eased - reckon we'll get the full game in here after all - they can have a delay of 75 mins and still play the full overs."

Back comes Rabada.