Lahore, October 29:

An inspired comeback by South Africa overshadowed Shoaib Akhtar’s return to the Pakistan side as the tourists clinched the one-day series here on Monday, winning the final game by just 14 runs.

Akhtar, playing his first one-day international for 13 months, took 4-43 to restrict South Africa to 233-9 before the tourists pulled off a sensational victory from the jaws of defeat by dismissing Pakistan for 219 in 46.3 overs. South Africa bowled well and fielded sharply to win the five-match series 3-2.

Pacemen Albie Morkel finished with 4-44 and Makhaya Ntini grabbed 4-61 as the tourists took six Pakistan wickets for just 20 runs off 36 balls to achieve a sensational victory.

Pakistan were cruising along nicely at 149-2 with Younis Khan (58) and Mohammad Yousuf (53) adding a solid 106 runs for the third wicket. They repaired the innings after Pakistan lost Imran Nazir on 17 and Kamran Akmal on 24.

With Younis and Yousuf gone in the space of four overs, the tourists sensed victory but Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik (23) and Misbah-ul Haq (19) took the total to 199 before Albie Morkel removed both to bring tourists back into contention.

With just 35 runs required in the last ten overs, Pakistan panicked, with Morkel removing Malik, while Ntini dismissed Haq to expose the tail.

Ntini also removed the dangerous Shahid Afridi (nine), out to an excellent catch at deep point by AB de Villiers. Morkel then dismissed Sohail Tanveer, Rao Iftikhar and Shoaib Akhtar — all without scoring a single run — to win the sensational match.

Earlier, Akhtar, whose last one-day international match was against England in September 2006, was ably supported by fellow paceman Rao Iftikhar (3-45) in South Africa’s innings. Jacques Kallis topscored with 86, with Herschelle Gibbs (54) and Duminy (44) also chipping in with useful contributions.