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January 28, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince struck half centuries to guide the Proteas to a Series win in the deciding test match at Cape Town. It is the second series win of 2-1 for Graeme Smith with both the series against India and Pakistan showing mixed results. South Africa had never lost a test against India at home prior to this season and they had lost only one test to Pakistan before their loss at Port Elizabeth which saw the Asian team win by 5 wickets. It was the same margin of 5 wickets by which South Africa won this third and final test at Cape Town.

The Cape Town Test Match lasted just two and a half days with the track being a seamer friendly one. South Africa started the third day's play at 36 for 2 having lost Dippenaar and the night watchman Paul Harris. They lost their skipper, Graeme Smith in the second over of the third day's play with Mohammad Asif trapping him leg before. Pakistan could sniff victory having reduced SA to 36 for 3 in their chase of 161. Their position was strengthened by the double failure of Hashim Amla in this test match. Mohammad Asif was on a roll picking up these two wickets early in his first spell. But the rock solid pair of Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince resisted the good bowling to take SA closer to the target. With only 5 runs to win, Jacques Kallis departed having made a workmanlike innings of 51 for which he took 149 balls with 7 fours. He was cleaned up by a jaffa from Shahid Nazir. Kallis might have been dismissed but his partnership of 117 had sealed the test match and the series for the home team who had taken 64 overs to get to the 161 runs. Credit should go to the Pakistani bowlers who made a game out of that small target. Mohammad Asif as usual was the pick of the bowlers, taking his two wickets at the cost of only 43 runs in 21 overs! Ashwell Prince has been the star performer for SA this season, he remained unconquered on a 141-ball 59. All rounder, Jacques Kallis was the Man of the Match and also the Man of the Series.

South Africa have just finished playing six tests at home and that's it for test cricket. Now everyone can forget about the longer version of the game and start focusing on the bigger picture, which is the World Cup that gets underway in March. The Proteas have five ODIs before that against Pakistan to experiment with the balance of their side. The first of those ODIs is on February 4th at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. But before that they can entertain the crowd by playing a Pro20 International on the 2nd of next month at the Wanderers.

 

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