Tight South African bowling and rain interruptions restricted Pakistan to 222 in 46.4 overs in their crucial World Cup Pool B match in Auckland on Saturday, with skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scoring a fighting 56.
Put into bat by South Africa, Pakistan were 175 for five when a 30-minute rain delay affected their progress and after 3.1 overs they were again halted again by a 18-minute stoppage, which reduced the match to a 47 overs per side contest.
South Africa were given a revised target of 232 in 47 overs on the Duckworth/Lewis method.
Misbah, in between the delays, steadied the innings with a determined 86-ball knock -- his fourth half-century in five World Cup matches.
The Pakistan captain also completed 5,000 one-day international runs when on seven in his 160th match.
He was the 12th Pakistani to reach the landmark but the first from any country to do so without scoring an individual hundred.
Misbah hit four boundaries before he holed out at third man off paceman Dale Steyn who finished with three for 30.
Shahid Afridi made a 15-ball 22 with two sixes and a boundary as he went to 8,000 ODI runs,
Pakistan, who need to win to harbour any realistic hopes of reaching the quarter-finals, brought in Sarfraz Ahmed and Younis Khan in place of the struggling Nasir Jamshed and injured Haris Sohail.
Ahmed put on a confident 30-run opening stand with Ahmed Shehzad (18) -- the best opening stand for Pakistan in this tournament -- before Steyn held a smart diving catch to give South Africa the breakthrough.
Shehzad hit Kyle Abbott towards long-on where Steyn, on the run, held a low chance.
Ahmed, did not played in Pakistan's first four pool matches, hit three sixes in one JP Duminy over before he ran himself out while taking a second run in a bid to reach his fifty.
He also hit five boundaries in his run-a-ball knock.
Younis Khan, dropped after poor run of scores in the first three matches, made an attractive 44-ball 37 with four boundaries before falling to soft dismissal off the part-time bowling of Proteas captain AB de Villiers.
Sohaib Maqsood made eight and Umar Akmal 13 as they again failed to turn their potential into performance.
South Africa will qualify for the quarter-finals if they win this match.
Source: AFP