2pm South Africa, 79 for 1 (Kirsten 31*, Kallis 43*), beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets In the end it was easy. Set 78 to win, South Africa knocked off the runs in 92 balls to take the lead in this two-Test series. They lost Boeta Dippenaar to the first ball of the innings - the only one Dippenaar faced in the entire match - when Travis Friend trapped him lbw, but after that it was plain sailing. Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis combined to hit 15 boundaries as South Africa made it four wins out of four against the Zims in Tests.

But this match will always be remembered as Andy Flower's. He hit 143 and 199*, scoring just over half of Zimbabwe's 671 runs, and prolonging the moment of defeat until midway through the final day. It was one of Test cricket's greatest one-man shows.

The second Test begins on Friday at Bulawayo.

12.45pm Zimbabwe 391 (A Flower 199*). South Africa need 78 runs to win

Andy Flower was left stranded on an epic 199 not out when last man Doug Hondo was trapped plumb in front by fellow debutant Andre Nel to bring Zimbabwe's rearguard to an end. South Africa needed only 78 to take the lead in the two-Test series.

Flower and Hondo had added 47 for the 10th wicket, keeping Shaun Pollock and friends at bay for more than 16 overs. But their luck changed when Pollock brought on Nel for his first over of the day straight after lunch. Flower, dropped by Lance Klusener at second slip off the second ball, took a single off the fourth, leaving Hondo with two deliveries to survive. The first hit him half-way up the pad as he propped forward and Nel won his shout for leg-before. Hondo was out for 6; Flower had made 341 runs in the match for once out. It was one of the great batting performances of all time.

Lunch Zimbabwe 390 for 9 (Flower 186*, Hondo 6*), lead by 76 runs

Andy Flower found some support at last from an unlikely source - Doug Hondo, Zimbabwe's last man and newest Test player. By lunch the two of them had added 46, the second-biggest partnership of the innings after Flower and Hamilton Masakadza's 186 for the fourth wicket. Flower was within a firm push of becoming the first man since Graham Gooch in 1990 to hit a hundred and a double hundred in the same Test.

Flower made 60 runs in the morning with a clever mixture of attack and defence. When Shaun Pollock took the new ball, his first two deliveries were smacked for four - the first over mid-off on the up, the second past cover as Flower rocked back to cut. The other new-ball bowler, Jacques Kallis, suffered even greater indignity as Flower first flicked him just short of the fine-leg boundary and then deposited him into the crowd at square leg with a front-foot pull.

Hondo, meanwhile, survived 33 balls, and even collected a four when he edged Kallis through the slips. With a lead of 76, Zimbabwe had achieved respectability, as well as by far their highest score against South Africa. But any hopes of a Headingley '81 turnaround were tempered by a glance at their bowling, which managed to take only three South African wickets in the first innings.

11am Zimbabwe 344 for 9 (Flower 159*, Hondo 0*), lead by 30 runs

Andy Flower's piece de resistance continued this morning as Zimbabwe denied South Africa a third consecutive innings victory in Tests between the two neighbours. But he was running out of partners fast as Lance Klusener, South Africa's fifth seamer these days, resurrected his bowling skills. First he bowled Travis Friend for a handy 17, then he persuaded Ray Price to pop a bat-pad catch to Neil McKenzie at silly mid-off.

Flower, on 159, was joined for the second time in the match by the last man Doug Hondo.

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