Close Australia 107 for 2 (M Waugh 55*, Ponting 33) beat South Africa 106 all out (Kirsten 44, Bichel 5-19) by eight wickets
scorecard

Andy Bichel, come on down. A man who has been in and out of Australia's one-day team frolicked in ideal conditions, turning in a look-at-me exhibition of line-and-length bowling to send South Africa spinning to a devastating eight-wicket defeat at the SCG. In the process, Australia ram-raided a vital bonus point in their battle for VB survival, and now sit on top of the hapless South Africans like a gang of school bullies, leading nine points to eight, with three games to play. It was as inevitable as their three defeats had been unfathomable.

Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting completed the rout with an avalanche of boundaries, adding 77 for the second wicket before Ponting inside-edged Lance Klusener onto his stumps with just six runs still needed. The pair of them had been particularly unfair on Shaun Pollock, who bowled with the bloody-mindedness of a captain having a bad day, and were it not for his ill-judged decision to bat first in perfect bowling conditions, he would have deserved better.

Waugh finished on 55 not out, his first one-day fifty in nine matches. But the day belonged to Bichel, whose 5 for 19 were the second-best figures in a one-day match at the SCG. And all this when the South Africans thought he was a comfortable first-change respite after unplayable opening spells from Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

In his second over Bichel bowled Neil McKenzie with an offcutter for 18 (42 for 3). But that was nothing - he'd only just got his arm in. He ran in for his third over and had Jonty Rhodes caught for 0 off a thick outside-edge by Adam Gilchrist diving two-handed to his right (44 for 4).

Then in the 20th over Bichel played his two-card trick. Mark Boucher was lbw for 1, to a ball moving in from just outside off. Then two balls later Shaun Pollock, who'd made the unfortunate decision to bat first, was out too, again lbw, trapped right on the crease for another duck (49 for 6).

And the last one was the most magnificent of all. He ran in at Makhaya Ntini who pushed ineffectively, and Bichel ignited his boots and took off to his right. He caught the ball in mid-air and landed with a massive smile and the ball safe in his hand. South Africa were all out for 106 and Australia were back in business. With 5 for 19 in 6.3 overs Bichel walked off the field, surrounded by his team-mates, white ball raised aloft.

The innings ended badly, but it had started even worse. In heavy cloud cover, the ball seam around like billy-o, and Herschelle Gibbs edged McGrath's first legitimate delivery to bag his second duck in three matches (1 for 1). Boeta Dippenaar followed two overs later, cutting McGrath straight to Shane Warne at second slip (5 for 2).

Three minutes of heavy rain on the square didn't make batting any easier, as the South Africans played and fenced and played and missed as Gillespie and McGrath tortured them with balls on a length, sometimes cutting away like a spinner's dream ball, sometimes seaming away like an errant yo-yo.

As so often, the only man who came to terms with the conditions was Kirsten. But eventually, after a long and patient innings, one in which he'd watched seven of his team-mates come and go for 50 runs - and five ducks between them - it was his turn. Warne, in his second over, sent down one a little bit flatter, a little bit faster, and Kirsten was caught back on his stumps for 44 (79 for 8).

There was time for an eventful over from McGrath. First Steve Elworthy slashed him down to third man for four. Next ball he was thwacked on the helmet and knocked to the ground by one that rose rapidly off a good length. Elworthy was brave enough to drive McGrath square for another four but then, off the last ball of the spell, he drove to cover where Steve Waugh caught the ball with his eyes closed (103 for 9).

And then back came Bichel for his fabulous finale.

Teams
South Africa 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Gary Kirsten, 3 Boeta Dippenaar, 4 Neil McKenzie, 5 Jonty Rhodes, 6 Lance Klusener, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock (capt), 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Steve Elworthy, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Australia 1 Mark Waugh, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Michael Bevan, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Andrew Symonds, 8 Shane Warne, 9 Andy Bichel, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Tanya Aldred is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd