Birmingham: A superb batting display by Hashim Amla (81 off 97 balls) followed by some fantastic bowling by Ryan Mclaren (4 for 19) helped South Africa keep their hopes alive in ICC Champions Trophy as they beat Pakistan by 67 runs here on Monday.

Chasing a modest target of 235 runs to win, Pakistan batsmen made a mess of the good job done by their bowlers as they failed to apply themselves under challenging conditions. It was once again skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (55) and opener Nasir Jamshed (42), who could just show their intent to resist the Proteas as Pakistan were all out for 167 in 45 overs.

MacLaren emerged as the highest wicket-taker for South Africa with figures of 8-3-19-4 but it was young paceman Chris Morris (2/25) together with Lonwabo Tsotsobe (2/23) who build pressure and strangulated the Pakistan innings early on.

Pakistan could scored just 36 runs in first 15 overs and lost Imran Farhat (2) and Mohammed Hafeez (7). Morris accounted for both as he bowled Farhat and foxed Hafeez with extra bounce to have him caught at square leg.

McLaren and part-timer JP Duminy (1/26) too bowled venomous spells to pile on the misery of the rivals.

Earlier, South African batsmen did succeed in getting good starts but somehow failed to convert those into big knocks. Amla was his usual composed self as he rotated the strike well and formed a good stand with Plessis after the side had lost opener Colin Ingram (20), who was trapped by Hafeez. Amla and Plessis and added 69 runs for the second wicket .