Date-stamped : 14 May94 - 18:29 South Africa vs Australia, 6th 1 day international. Played at St Georges Park, Port Elizabeth, 4 April 1994. South Africa won by 26 runs. South Africa put up a much better performance than they did on Saturday night and took a 4-2 lead in the 8 match series. Wessels won the toss again and decided to bat. Kirsten and Cronje went fairly cheaply but then Andrew Hudson and Jonty Rhodes combined to record a partnership of 105 runs and set up victory for South Africa. Rhodes was the more aggressive of the two and scored at just less than a run a ball while Hudson played the sheet anchor role. Hudson was out for a solid 63 and then, as so often happens after a big partnership, Rhodes was out soon after when he tried to hit Steve Waugh over the midwicket boundary and was caught by Dean Jones. Wessels and Simons chipped in with useful contribu- tions at the end to bring the total up to 227. There were prob- lems with the floodlights just before Australia came out to bat and their innings started 10 minutes late because of this. The South African bowlers extracted a lot more swing than the Aus- tralians did and it was Fanie de Villiers who made the early breakthrough when David Boon was caught at 1st slip. Australia lost wickets at regular in- tervals and at 77/7 it looked as if the game would be over by 20:30. Bowlers Reiffel and Warne, however, frustrated the South African bowlers and set up a new world record partner- ship of 119 for the 8th wicket. Both of them played extremely well although it must be said that the ball wasn't swinging as much as it was earlier in the innings. Both Reiffel and Warne bettered their previous highest one day scores as they brought Australia tantalisingly close to the victory target. They always had too much to do, however, and once Warne was out, the innings ended quite quickly. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> MORE Border's men pinned down by buoyant South Africa By Peter Deeley in Port Elizabeth Australia's 26-run defeat at the hands of their South African hosts was their "darkest hour" - as the punning headline in the local paper here called it - of the one-day series in more ways than one. They are now 4-2 down and with two games left, in Cape Town today and Bloemfontein on Friday, can at best draw level with a highly-motivated side. The real embarrassment of Wednesday night's game, however, was the about-face by the Australian management over the quality of the floodlights. After Kepler Wessels won his fifth toss in a row (including the three Tests), South Africa batted in the blinding sunlight of the afternoon to score 227 for six, not an unobtainable target. But when the Aus- tralian openers went out, seven individual lights on the pylons stayed out. Coach Bobby Simpson and tour manager Dr Cam- eron Battersby pursued the umpires on to the field to lodge a protest, to no avail, and then took up the matter with match referee Donald Carr. The show went on and as Dr Battersby was expressing concern at the inadequacy of the lights, David Boon, groping like a motorist without headlights, edged a catch to slip. Dr Batters- by suggested the playing condition governing visibility could equally apply at night - but the umpires, though clearly fidgety, chose not to establish a precedent by offering the batsmen the chance to go off because of poor floodlights. Australia strug- gled, too, against a seaming ball to 68 for six, and it was quite on the cards an official protest might be lodged afterwards. But then came an extraordinary partnership as fast bowler Paul Reif- fel and leg-spinner Shane Warne set a new world international record for the eighth wicket of 119 runs in an hour off 19 overs. Australia were within 32 runs of an unlikely win when Warne was run out - making the complaints look like the whingeing some lo- cals were al- ready alleging. Allan Border rubbished thoughts of appealing when he said: "The lights weren't the greatest but I'm not grumbling." And the issue was dropped like the proverbial lead balloon. Border fell prey to a rare sight in this country: a South African slow bowler, by name Tim Shaw, whose fourth delivery had the Australian captain leg before, sweeping. Shaw also had Ian Healy caught and has probably written himself a ticket for the England tour this summer. A stand of 105 in 76 minutes between two batsmen, Andrew Hudson and Jonty Rhodes, who will also be much in evidence on English grounds, had given the home side the basis for the win. Australia, with Merv Hughes in- jured and unlikely to play again this tour, will have difficulty making up leeway at this tail end of their trip. (Thanks : The Daily Telegraph) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)