Rassie van der Dussen led the Proteas’ recovery with his maiden ODI century as South Africa posted 273-6 in their 50 overs against Pakistan on Friday.

The hosts were asked to bat first by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam with Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram making a fiery start with the bat.

De Kock, though, was caught for 20, trying to go for a big shot against seamer Shaheen Afridi, before Markram fell two balls later when he was caught by Faheem Ashraf for 19.

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The Proteas found themselves in trouble when captain Temba Bavuma hauled out to Afridi for only one, while Heinrich Klaasen took 21 deliveries to make also one, caught behind by Mohammad Rizwan.

The Proteas were in desperate need of a valuable partnership and it came in the form of Van der Dussen and David Miller, who began to play some shots against the Pakistan attack.

Both batsmen batted patiently towards their respective half-centuries as they reached a high-class century stand for the fifth wicket in the process.

Miller, though, departed for 50 when he nicked one behind off Faheem Ashraf’s bowling.

Van der Dussen continued to pile on the runs after being dropped before scoring a single run, and received handy assistance from Andile Phehlukwayo with the pair contributing 64 runs before the latter was dismissed by Haris Rauf for 29.

Van der Dussen, eventually got through for his very first century in Proteas ODI colours and kicked on to help the Proteas get past the 250-run mark.

He finished the innings unbeaten on 123 with Kagiso Rabada, who added 13.

Proteas: Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam Ul Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Harris Rauf.