Close South Africa 199 for 6 (48.3 overs - Rhodes 44*) beat Australia 198 (48.2 overs - S Waugh 62, Ponting 51) by four wickets
scorecard

After their humiliation in the Test series, South Africa found a swift remedy as they beat Australia by four wickets with 10 balls to spare in the second match of the VB series in front of a better-behaved 62,000 crowd at the MCG.

Jonty Rhodes, who top-scored with an unbeaten 43, showed the value of a cool head to guide the South Africans to victory after their bowlers had done well to restrict Australia to 198. This pyjama therapy is good stuff: that's 15 wins in 17 one-dayers for South Africa, and five in five at the MCG against Australia. After their surprise loss to New Zealand on Friday it's two defeats in two for Australia, although the elongated nature of the tournament means that they are not in danger of missing the final yet.

Australia's 198 was an under-par effort. South Africa were typically effervescent in the field, with Jacques Kallis taking 3 for 30 and Shaun Pollock, who was right back to his best, 3 for 25.

Adrenalin pumping his fists like a runaway steam engine, Pollock dismissed Adam Gilchrist with the very first ball of the match. Australia's response was temporary bedlam, as Ricky Ponting whipped his bat at every loose ball and some that weren't so loose. The timing that had made him so exciting on Friday had not deserted him: back-foot drive, staccato pull, and Allan Donald's first three overs went for 27. Pollock was forced to send Donald off to graze at the boundary edge like an aged cow.

Matthew Hayden, playing in his first one-dayer in Australia for eight years, looked in little trouble until he suddenly holed out to Lance Klusener for 10 (39 for 2). Michael Bevan was ill at ease as his favourite scoring strokes were cut off by Herschelle Gibbs and Rhodes at backward point and cover, and he also made 10 before he was run out athletically by Makhaya Ntini (64 for 3).

Ponting's entertaining 51 ended when he was sent back by Steve Waugh and run out by Rhodes - first blood to Jonty in the battle of the superfielders (106 for 4), and the second time Waugh had been involved in a crucial run-out in three days. But Waugh got his team back on track with a typically uncompromising innings. It wasn't especially elegant or entertaining, but it kept Australia in the game. He nurdled and girdled, as Damien Martyn helped him reach the relative safety of 164 for 4 after 40 overs.

But the final onslaught never came. Waugh and Andrew Symonds both fell in the 41st over to Kallis (164 for 6), and Pollock kept the plug in. Only Andy Bichel made it to double figures, and when Martyn was last out, Australia had failed by seven balls to bat out their allocation.

A contest looked unlikely when Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs came haring out of the blocks. With Brett Lee's radar askew, the 50 came up in the 10th over, and Australia were missing the thrift of the suspended Glenn McGrath and the rotated Ian Harvey.

But this being South Africa against Australia, there was a wobble as three wickets went down for 20 in seven overs. On 22 Kirsten top-edged a steepler from Andy Bichel to Adam Gilchrist (51 for 1) and then Kallis, who had limped to 6 off 22 balls while struggling with an ankle injury, aimed a lethargic hook at Gillespie and Gilchrist dived like a rampant salmon, taking the edge high to his left (66 for 2).

Gibbs was next to go after a boundary-laden 38, pulling Gillespie too early and giving Gilchrist a third catch. But with the run rate never really an issue, Rhodes and Neil McKenzie slowly, surely, took South Africa towards their target, despite an outstanding, tension-ratcheting spell from Shane Warne (10-1-19-1). Rhodes was nowhere near his best - his 101-ball innings did not include a single boundary - but he knew he didn't have to be.

The partnership had reached 65 when McKenzie, who made 34, slogged Warne straight up in the air (136 for 4). Enter Lance Klusener, who laboured dismally to start with, looked to be playing himself into something resembling form when he cathartically smeared successive deliveries from Bichel for six and four, but then edged Lee to Gilchrist in the next over and was out for 18 (169 for 5).

With 12 needed, Mark Boucher was beautifully caught by Symonds at square leg off Lee for 11, but hard though the Aussies tried, they did not have enough runs to play with and Rhodes finished things off when he took a short one from Lee on the elbow and the ball flew for four leg-byes. If Australia don't hit their straps soon, the inaugural VB Series will go down like a warm beer with their supporters.

Rob Smyth is a staff writer with Wisden.com, and Tanya Aldred is assistant editor.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd