Close South Africa 7 for 0 and 239 trail Australia 382 all out (Gilchrist 138*, Ntini 4-93, Adams 4-102) by 136 runs
scorecard

Familiarity, they say, breeds contempt. Not when the familiar sight is Adam Gilchrist careering to a run-a-ball century it doesn't. On a day as dramatic as any so far witnessed in this one-sided catalogue of matches, South Africa rediscovered their pride, held the upper hand for a heady half-hour, and yet still found themselves on the wrong end of a lower-order butchering. We've seen it all before, but we still cannot quite believe it.

Gilchrist was so dominant that he took just 91 balls to reach three figures, and only then did he cut loose. Paul Adams, who bowled with skill on his recall, and utterly bamboozled the great Steve Waugh, bowled 44 deliveries to Gilchrist and was smeared for 76 runs, including 36 in his last two overs. Makhaya Ntini, who roasted the Aussies in a blistering post-lunch spell, was sent whimpering from the attack, conceding 26 runs from 18 deliveries. Gilchrist has now amassed 342 runs in two innings this series, from 321 balls, with 41 fours and 10 sixes, and he has yet to be dismissed. The sheer brilliance of the man cannot be described.

Gilchrist's effort is all the more phenomenal when you consider the match situation when he arrived - barely noticed - at the crease. Australia had slumped from 162 for 2 to 176 for 5, which soon became 185 for 6, and for the first time in four matches they had a fight on their hands.

Adams, whose comically-resolute batting on the first day had brought the best out of his team-mate Andrew Hall, started the rot. Playing in his first match for over a year, he was unaffected by months of beatings by the Aussies, and wheeled away with his inimitable under-the-armpit action, grabbing two wickets in consecutive overs. Ricky Ponting had batted beautifully for 47, before bottom-edging to Mark Boucher behind the stumps (162 for 3), and Steve Waugh was reduced to a fumbling prodding wreck in a seven-ball torture, and was eventually bowled off the pads for 0 (168 for 4).

South Africa had their tails up, and Ntini took over. Mark Waugh had grafted his way to 25, before slapping a short one straight to Herschelle Gibbs at gully (176 for 5), and Damien Martyn, who had been dropped on 0 and pinned on the shoulder by an exocet of a bouncer, nibbled at a back-of-a-length delivery that flew comfortably to Boucher (185 for 6). Gilchrist by this time had already caressed two boundaries, but such was the excitement around the ground that nobody took the blindest bit of notice.

Ruthless as always on the bad ball, and utterly unjust on a decent length as well, Gilchrist's assault was stealth warfare. By the time South Africa noticed they were no longer in the ascendancy, he had snuck to 42 off just 27 balls, without once breaking sweat or lifting the ball in the air. He smacked Ntini for 12 runs in his 19th over, before setting to work on Dewald Pretorius, who again bowled nervily, mixing long-hops with fizzing seamers. With Shane Warne at the other end taking heavy toll of Andrew Hall's inoffensive swingers, the pair raised their seventh-wicket century partnership in double-quick time, and had moved onto a ground record 132 before Adams returned to remove Warne - caught at slip for a superbly meaty 63, from 65 balls (317 for 7).

Brett Lee didn't last long, rifling a Kallis long-hop to Ashwell Prince in the covers (338 for 8) and as Jason Gillespie came out to bat and Glenn McGrath put his pads on, Gilchrist's only concern was that he might run out of partners.

Some concern. After scampering a quick single to post the three figures and losing Gillespie for a duck - caught at slip off the boot (343 for 9), Gilchrist decided to take the aerial route.

It was an extraordinary change of tempo in a high-octane innings. Gilchrist had hit sixes at will in his 204 at Johannesburg, but this time it wasn't until he had made 104 that he latched onto Paul Adams - with all nine outfielders on the boundary - and carted him out of the park. Adams went for 20 runs in one over, and 16 in the next as his figures came in for some unwarranted abuse.

The new ball finally brought Australia's innings to an end, as Ntini rapped McGrath on the pads in front of middle, ending a very handy tenth-wicket partnership of 39, of which McGrath made 2.

Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs negotiated a tricky five-over spell in fading light, before biting the umpires' hands off in their eagerness to accept an offer to call it a day.

And what a day it had been. A banner in the stands had implored South Africa to stand tall. And though they trailed by 136 after Gilchrist had blazed, the efforts of Ntini and Adams ensured that they could do just that.

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com

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