Pakistan’s cricketers went from a position of dominance to a state of despair on Saturday as South Africa reduced the tourists to 7-40 on the second morning of the first Test at the Wanderers.

South African pacemen Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander produced combined figures of 5-15 from 13 overs, while Jacques Kallis also weighed in with two wickets to give the Proteas a firm hold on the match.

The Pakistanis had suggested on Friday they would give the world’s top-ranked side a challenge by bowling South Africa out for 253.

However, that notion disappeared soon after Pakistan resumed at none for six at the start of the second day.

Steyn had Mohammad Hafeez caught behind in the second over and dismissed both Nasir Jamshed and Younis Khan in the fourth.

Misbah-ul-Haq (12) and Azhar Ali (13) dug in for Pakistan and saw out 13 testing overs before Kallis produced a brutal bouncer which caught Ali’s glove on its way through to wicketkeeper AB de Villiers.

That opened the floodgates and Kallis found the edge of Misbah’s bat in his next over but needed a review after the batsman was initially given not out by umpire Billy Bowden.

Philander took over from there, having Asad Shafiq and Umar Gul caught by the wicketkeeper and first slip respectively.

That left Pakistan in danger of following on, with Sarfraz Ahmed and Saeed Ajmal the unbeaten batsmen, both on one at the lunch break.