Cut and Paste from heraldsun.com.au
Peter Lalor
March 11, 2009 12:00am
AUSTRALIA smashed South Africa by 175 runs in the second Test last night to win the series and retain the ranking as the world's best team.
A disappointing South Africa were bowled out for 310 in the afternoon session of the last day in Durban, 175 runs short of the 546-run target.
Ricky Ponting's men took 7-165 in the day to wrap up the match, with Victorian paceman Peter Siddle defying the pain of an injured foot to take three wickets, including the key scalp of A. B. de Villiers.
But it was a surprising three-wicket haul by occasional Simon Katich which cleaned up the tail.
Ponting said it was always rewarding to bounce back after a series defeat and compared the feeling of achievement to when his side beat England 5-0 in 2006-07 after handing the Ashes back to England in 2005.
"All of a sudden we look good again (for the 2009 Ashes series)," he said..
"I'm extremely proud of the whole group. Coming here we knew we had our backs to the wall (having lost 2-1 in Australia to South Africa in January).
"We have played some amazing cricket in the first two Tests."
South Africa started the day reasonable well placed at 2-244, with Jacques Kallis on 84 and AV De Villiers on 68.
But their hopes had all but gone at 6-307 at lunch, with another 239 still needed for an unlikely win.
The new ball was taken in the first over but things started badly when Michael Clarke dropped a straightforward chance at point from Kallis off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus.
Fortunately for the vice captain, Johnson induced an edge the following over and Kallis's innings ended on 93 and the South Africans were 3-267.
Siddle pushed through obvious pain in his first over of the fifth morning to have AB De Villiers (84) caught behind as the Australians closed in on a series victory.
Australia's fielding was sloppy on the final innings. Kallis was dropped twice and Brad Haddin fumbled a difficult chance off Jean-Paul Duminy when he was on six.
But Hilfenhaus removed him for 17 with a ball that exploded from a length and caught the glove on the way through to Haddin.
After six months of ignoring Katich's off spin, Ponting brought him on for the second time this innings, asking him to bowl the last over before lunch.
The opening batsman obliged and had Paul Harris (5) caught in the deep from his second ball.
It was Marcus North's turn after lunch, breaking an 80-minute partnership between Morne Morkel and Mark Boucher.
North caught and bowled Boucher for 20 with the home side still 200 runs short of the target.
Katich then cleaned up, removing Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn to leave the locals 9-310 and all out because captain Graeme Smith did not bat with his broken finger.
Siddle has had a brilliant start to his career, with 27 wickets at 26 from his six Tests going into the last day at Kingsmead.
But he does have a question mark over a recurring problem in his foot.
The Victorian missed the last one day series because there was a hot spot - or potential stress fracture - of the left foot and he was not included in this side until the last minute after pulling up sore from the first Test.
The team spokesman said last night that he was now suffering from a toe injury.
Australia has a small issue at first slip that needs to be sorted out. Matthew Hayden made it his own after Shane Warne retired, but North did not look comfortable in the position and there appears no other obvious choice.
On the fourth day North reacted late and dropped Kallis first ball off Siddle's bowling. It cost the side 93 runs.
Siddle admitted it was a difficult catch.
"There was a bit of extra bounce on that ball and he did push at it so there was always a bit of extra pace off the bat and it did go fast to the slips," he said.
"Some had been keeping a bit lower than that so it was a bit unsuspecting for Marcus and it was just unlucky he couldn't hold it. "
Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:44 am
