Hayden and Martyn came together after the run out of captain Ricky Ponting at 37 for two and lifted the score to 112 before Hayden sent Martyn back to the bowler’s end, but Shaun Pollock’s throw was too swift and accurate and Martyn was out for 35.

With an erratic scoreboard proving an unreliable guide to the play (at one point Hayden went from 49 to 48 with a single and then back again to 49) it was difficult to tell exactly when the left-hander reached his 50. The consensus, though, seemed to be 80 deliveries and he had hit three fours and a six slapped over long on off Jacques Kallis.

Darren Lehmann replaced Martyn as Australia prepared for a final push and with 20 overs of their innings remaining, they needed a further 138 to win. Hayden was on 54 with Lehman on 5.

Faced with a challenging, but by no means unassailable, target, Australia failed to get the start they wanted with both wickets falling inside the first 10 overs of their innings. Adam Gilchrist had already had two slices of good fortune when he nicked a Shaun Pollock no ball on 4 and was then dropped on 5 by a diving Herschelle Gibbs at midwicket, before Makhaya Ntini bagged him.

Gilchrist had moved to 16 when he cut at Ntini to give Mark Boucher a straightforward catch behind the wicket at 33 for one and then Australia lost their captain, Ricky Ponting, to the run out.

Matthew Hayden hit Ntini straight down the ground for what looked like a comfortable two as Nicky Boje and Lance Klusener chased the ball. As Boje knocked the ball back for Klusener to pick up, Hayden called for a third, clearly believing he was running to the danger end.

But Ponting was slow to react and Klusener’s throw to the far end caught Ponting still short of the ground as Boucher took off the bails.

Ponting made only 3 with the second wicket going down at 37.

On Sunday Jimmy Maher made 95 batting at three at SuperSport Park, but there was still no sign of him as Australia sent Damien Martyn out to bat at four. At the 15 over mark Hayden was on 19 with Martyn on 10.

The total was comfortably South Africa’s best total of the series after being bowled out for 204 at the Wanderers last Friday and 181 at SuperSport Park on Sunday.

Rhodes, who made 13 and 0 in the first two games, clearly meant business in this match, as always running busily between the wickets and improvising cheekily as he lifted the run rate in a 75-run partnership off just 73 balls with Jacques Kallis for the fourth wicket.

Kallis, who had also failed in the first two games, provided the cornerstone of the innings with his solid 71 coming off 101 balls before he tried to cut at Jason Gillespie and was caught at the wicket off a thin top edge by Adam Gilchrist.

Kallis went at 180 for four and South Africa sent in Lance Klusener for the last 11 overs of the innings. It was Rhodes, though, who continued to provide most of the fireworks. He had gone to his 50 off only 44 balls and proved near impossible to set a field to when he reverse swept Darren Lehmann for six over the third man boundary.

Klusener, meanwhile, notched up 3 000 runs in one-day cricket with a six heaved over long on off Nathan Hauritz, but when he hit Brett Lee in the same direction, Matthew Hayden took an excellent catch on the run coming around from deep midwicket.

Klusener made 20 and the fifth South African wicket had gone down on double Nelson, 222, and 10 runs later Mark Boucher followed for 5, caught behind off a bottom edge as he drove at a wide one from Gillespie.

Rhodes was finally out for 83 with three balls of the innings left. He holed out to Jimmy Maher at deep square leg to give Lee his fourth wicket of the innings. The Natalian had faced just 74 balls for his runs, hitting six fours and a six.

Andrew Hall was left on 18 when the innings closed with Shaun Pollock on 1. Lee was the best of the Australian bowlers, taking four for 45 in nine overs.

The South African third wicket pair came together at 27 for two and denied Australia a further breakthrough as they set about rebuilding the innings with admirable composure.

McKenzie, in the side for the first time in the series, looked in particularly good form while Kallis came up with a characteristically solid innings after his failures in the first two matches.

The 50 partnership was brought up by McKenzie with an off drive off Andy Bichel and it was McKenzie who raised the South Africa 100 when he dabbed Bichel down to third man in the 26th over of the innings.

After four overs from the Town end from Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting introduced the left-arm spin of Lehmann and it was the South Australian who accounted for McKenzie, caught by Damien Martyn in the covers as he lifted a drive.

McKenzie made 37 off 57 deliveries and was out at 105 for three to bring Jonty Rhodes to the crease.

Kallis reached his 50 off 78 balls with a single off Lehmann and after 30 overs he had moved to 52 with Rhodes on 9.

Lee was in the side for the first time in the series in what was, in effect, a straight swap for Glenn McGrath who pulled out of the match with a back strain. Lee, however, had already been included in the side at the expense of Andy Bichel and McGrath’s withdrawal meant a reprieve for Bichel.

South Africa, meanwhile, fielded a new opening combination with Boeta Dippenaar replacing Gary Kirsten. The end result, however, was no different the first two games in the series with both openers falling in the first eight overs.

Dippenaar, who had played one lovely off drive off Jason Gillespie, was the first to go, trying to force Lee off the back foot and edging a catch to Ricky Ponting at second slip.

He made only 7 with the first South African wicket falling on 11. The second went down on 27 when Herschelle Gibbs drove at Lee and edged his catch to Jimmy Maher at first slip.

With Gibbs out for 10, Jacques Kallis and Neil McKenzie, playing his first game in the series, were required to rebuild the innings against Lee, who had worked up a fierce pace, and Gillespie.

McKenzie spoiled Lee’s figures somewhat with 10 off his sixth over including two handsome fours driven to the cover and long off boundaries.

Shane Watson replaced Gillespie after a 6-0-22-0 opening burst and Kallis welcomed him by pulling him sweetly over square leg for the first six of the innings to bring up the South African 50 in the 13th over of the innings. At the other end, Bichel came on for Lee (6-1-23-2) and nearly struck in his first over when Kallis flicked him off his legs and through the hands of Nathan Hauritz at square leg with the ball running away for four.

After 15 overs, Kallis had 26 with McKenzie on 17.

The South Africans will bat first in this match after captain Shaun Pollock won the toss against an Australia team in which Brett Lee comes in for his first match of the series. Glenn McGrath was a late withdrawal from the team with a back strain.

Neither Michael Bevan nor Shane Warne were considered despite having recovered from hamstring strains.

The teams

South Africa: Shaun Pollock (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Andrew Hall, Makhaya Ntini.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Jimmy Maher, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Nathan Hauritz.