At least cricketminded South Africans have a World Cup final in prospect on Sunday to take their minds off what happened in Lahore on Friday. To wit, Donovan Ferreira's team squandered the history they made on Tuesday - when they became the first team to win a T20I in Rawalpindi batting second - with an abjectly poor performance two days later.

Only 311 kilometres separates Pindi from Lahore, but it seems the South Africans got lost along the way. Or mislaid what they had learnt on Tuesday.

Reeza Hendricks, whose 40-ball 60 set up a record-equalling total of 194/9 in Pindi, was bowled through the gate by Salman Mirza's sniping inswinger with the second ball of the match. Between them, Mirza and Naseem Shah reduced the visitors to 23/4 in 28 deliveries. There was no coming back from that, and they were bowled out for 110. Only Dewald Brevis, who scored 25 off 16, looked like he knew what he was doing. Their biggest partnership was the 26 Brevis and Ferreira shared off 17 for the fifth wicket.

Mirza, who took 3/14, caught Albie Morkel's eye. "He bowled really well," Morkel told a press conference. "The ball he bowled to Reeza was fantastic. After that, he used his change of pace very cleverly."

Saim Ayub's scintillating 71 not out off 38 - he hit more than three-quarters of his runs in fours and sixes - was just about all Pakistan needed to seal victory by nine wickets with 41 balls to spare. Saim put on 54 off 40 with Sahibzada Farhan and 58 off 39 with Babar Azam - who improved his second-ball duck on Tuesday to an unbeaten 11 off 18.

"After our good first game we expected to wrap up the series today," Morkel said. "It didn't happen and you can't sugar-coat that. If you lose three to four wickets in the powerplay you don't often recover."

The home side were worthy and convincing winners, but it helps when your opponents don't turn up. Evidence that the South Africans didn't is that 16 of the 25 completed day/night T20Is at the Gaddafi have been won by the team who batted first. But not when they're dismissed for 110. The lowest total defended there was the 145 Pakistan made against England in September 2022. They limited the visitors' reply to 139/7.

Ferreira and his men have a chance to fix what's broken in the deciding match of the series on Saturday. The catch is that, to do so, they will have to return to the scene of Friday's blunder - which was also where they lost the first Test on a wretched pitch last month. They repaired that damage by squaring the series in Pindi. Maybe the trick is to avoid playing in places named after dead despotic dictators.

Or to stay focused, whatever happens on Saturday, on the fact that Laura Wolvaardt will lead South Africa in their bid to win a first World Cup in the final against India on Sunday.