South African team celebrates the historic win

Australian innings and Ponting’s supremacy

Australia opened with Adam Gilchrist and Simon Katich. The two left-handers began in attacking fashion. Gilchrist was cutting square of the wicket and driving straight down the ground to race away. Katich too got his runs with his zone in the V down the ground. While Makhaya Ntini got smacked for runs, Andrew Hall, van der Wath and Roger Telemachus were also taken to the cleaners. Gilchrist got to his 44th ODI half-century in on 35 deliveries. He had not got the big runs in the previous four ODIs, but came good in the decider. In the meantime, Katich then launched van der Wath for a big six over wide long-on.

Ricky Ponting hit 164 in 105 balls

South African innings and Herschelle Gibbs’s brilliance

Smith and Dippenaar opened the batting for South Africa. Lee’s first delivery was wide on the off side. Things got off to poor start as Dippenaar chopped one from Nathan Bracken onto his stumps in the second over. He was out for one off seven deliveries. People actually believe that the fall of his wicket actually helped South Africa later on as his strike-rate was on the slower side in ODIs — 67.87 to be precise. In came Herschelle Gibbs at No 3. Smith hit the first four in the South African innings down the ground off Lee. Gibbs also got in on the act with fours square on the off side. Lee then bowled a short delivery and Gibbs pulled it behind square on the leg side for the first six in the innings.









The final scorecard shows South Africa’s majestic achievement 

Brief scores:

Australia 434 for 4 in 50 overs (Adam Gilchrist 55, Simon Katich 79, Ricky Ponting 164, Michael Hussey 81; Roger Telemachus 2 for 87) lost to South Africa 438 for 9 in 49.5 overs (Graeme Smith 90, Herschelle Gibbs 175, Mark Boucher 50*, Johan van der Wath 35; Nathan Bracken 5 for 67, Andrew Symonds 2 for 75) by 1 wicket.


Players of the Match: Ricky Ponting (Australia) & Herchelle Gibbs (South Africa)