Close Australia 382 and 131 for 1 (Langer 58, Hayden 50*) need another 200 runs to beat South Africa 239 and 473 (Kirsten 87, Smith 68, Kallis 73, McKenzie 99, Warne 6-161)
scorecard

A century opening partnership between Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden put Australia firmly on course for victory against South Africa at close on the fourth day of the second Test.

Set 331 to win after the Australians had ended South Africa's innings for 473 just before tea, Langer and Hayden tore into the home attack with gusto in the final session. At close Australia were 131 for 1, needing only 200 on the final day to achieve the tenth-highest winning fourth-innings total in Test history, after some brutal batting.

Langer and Hayden gave Australia an ideal start, putting on 102 in 22 overs. It was the sixth time in nine Tests that they had put on more than 100 together. They were particularly severe on Paul Adams, the unorthodox left-arm spinner, who conceded 36 runs in five overs.

Langer was out for 58 when he was bowled off an inside-edge when he attempted a back-foot force off Dewald Pretorius (102 for 1). It was the first Test wicket for the debutant Pretorius. Langer hit 10 fours in his 74-ball stay.

Hayden and Ricky Ponting took Australia through to the close. Hayden reached his half-century off the last ball of the day. He faced 94 balls and hit nine fours. Ponting was unbeaten on 17. The pitch remains good for batting, although there were signs of wear.

Earlier South Africa had given themselves a fighting chance in their second innnings, Neil McKenzie was run out for top score of 99, one of two run-out victims within five overs.

Shane Warne took 6 for 161 in a marathon bowling effort in which he sent down 70 overs. He made some balls turn sharply and on two occasions four byes were conceded when balls spun and kept low, beating both the batsman, McKenzie, and the wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.

Warne bowled unchanged, apart from one over from his end by Mark Waugh before lunch, and sent down 28 of the 57 overs delivered by Australia today.

McKenzie, the newly appointed South African vice-captain, shared stands of 66 for the fifth wicket with Ashwell Prince (20) and 81 for the sixth with his captain Mark Boucher (37).

Boucher's dismissal sparked a flurry of wickets, which brought Australia back into the game. Boucher was lbw when he went back on his stumps to Jason Gillespie.

Four overs later first innings top-scorer Andrew Hall was run out for 0 when he was called for a second run by McKenzie but could not beat a quick pick-up and throw from Brett Lee to the bowler's end.

Then it was McKenzie who fell victim to excellent fielding. He pushed Lee into the covers and set off for the single which would have brought up his third Test century. Damien Martyn dived to stop the ball and, on his knees, threw down the stumps at the bowler's end with McKenzie well short. He had batted for 306 minutes, faced 226 balls and hit 14 fours. He was the second South African to be run out for 99 against Australia this summer: Jacques Kallis suffered the same fate when he was the last man out at Melbourne in December.

At that stage South Africa were 297 ahead. They were given a boost by some judicious hitting by Paul Adams (23) and Makhaya Ntini (11), as another 33 were added before the innings ended. Adams hit sixes off Warne and Mark Waugh.

Briefly it raised hopes that Australia might be there for the taking. But it took only a few overs for Hayden and Langer to send out a reminder why Australia are such a force in world cricket.

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