Australia 290 for 6 (Ponting 129) beat South Africa 253 (Lee 4-63) by 37 runs
scorecard

The mismatch in the Southern Cape continued as Australia powered to a comfortable 37-run victory over their hosts at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein, jumping out to a 3-0 series lead in the process. Their captain Ricky Ponting showed his men the way with a blistering 126-ball 129, and his partnership with Darren Lehmann in the final stages of the Australian innings proved to be decisive. Brett Lee was the star with the ball, scalping 4 for 63, and bowling with frightening pace and accuracy at the death.

Ponting harnessed power with a sculptor's sense of touch during his innings. By contrast, Lehmann bludgeoned some powerful strokes over the covers and through midwicket. Their disparate approaches wreaked havoc with Shaun Pollock's bowling plans as the run rate climbed like an escalator in the closing stages. Lehmann also excelled in rotating the strike, giving the lion's share to Ponting, who was in quite sublime form. The duo put on 119 from just 14.3 overs before Lehmann was castled by Pollock, straying too far across the stumps (262 for 4). He made 39 from just 37 balls.

Their partnership followed a sedate start from the Aussies, though Adam Gilchrist started with two fours in Pollock's opening over. Pollock was unusually wayward and he had to thank the relentlessly accurate Makhaya Ntini - who started with two maidens - for keeping the runs in check. Matthew Hayden and Gilchrist had put on 40 when Telemachus got one to move across Hayden's bat and catch the edge en route to Mark Boucher. Hayden departed for just 17, but his exit paved the way for Ponting to come in and start the masterclass.

He started with a super square drive and a pull and then lofted Kallis over the long-off rope for six. At the other end Gilchrist was uncharacteristically subdued, and his 59-ball knock of 34 ended when he played all over a slower delivery from Telemachus (87 for 2).

Ponting brought up his fifty with a push through midwicket for three off Pollock and the singles became more frequent as the rate started to nudge towards five an over. Damien Martyn, who made 24, was bowled by Boje going for the sweep but that was the last thing the crowd had to celebrate for a long while.

Ponting switched into overdrive, playing some sumptuous drives through cover and straight down the ground along with his trademark pull shots. Telemachus, Pollock, Ntini and Jacques Kallis were all given the hammer in the final fifteen overs as Ponting and Lehmann made batting look like a Sunday afternoon picnic.

Ponting was eventually dismissed by Kallis as a lofted flick off the pads found Pollock in the deep (266 for 5). But by then, his team were holding all the aces. Ian Harvey went cheaply but Jimmy Maher and Lee ensured that Australia would finish with a flourish. Lee clouted the last ball of the innings from Kallis miles over extra-cover for six to complete the turnaround that Ponting and Lehmann had engineered with a combination of brute force and finesse.

South Africa's reply was stillborn, as both Gary Kirsten and the pinch-hitter Andrew Hall gave Gilchrist and Maher catching practice off Glenn McGrath's bowling. Smith and Kallis raised hopes briefly with some attacking shots off Brett Lee and Ian Harvey but the moment Smith, who made a useful 41 on his debut, inside-edged an inswinger from Harvey onto his stumps (67 for 3), South Africa were struggling.

Kallis and Neil McKenzie scored at a run a ball off Australia's change bowlers – picking out Nathan Hauritz and Lee for special treatment – to raise a few cheers but Lehmann came on to devastating effect. Kallis charged him, but the attempted loft zoomed right back to the delighted bowler (138 for 4).

Jonty Rhodes and McKenzie picked off the singles but struggled to find the fence as the asking rate mounted to nine an over. Cue Lee, who had gone for 26 in his first three overs. McKenzie shuffled two far across attempting an onside flick and saw his stumps rattled, before Boucher was undone by a brute of a yorker (timed at 145 kmph) to leave South Africa reeling at 202 for 6.

Pollock flirted at a wide one from Jason Gillespie and Boje's flash of resistance was ended when he under-edged Lee through to Gilchrist. Rhodes flailed his bat around in the closing stages, but in the context of the match it was about as effective as spitting into a typhoon.

Gillespie cleaned up Ntini with a clever slower ball and Rhodes's slog at Lee was brilliantly taken by Harvey running at full tilt as South Africa capitulated with eleven balls still to be bowled. Another emphatic win for the best team in the world, and South African hopes of at least squaring this series are looking more and more like a pipedream. They'll do well merely to avoid more humiliation. As for Ponting, leadership is a breeze for the moment. Steve Waugh? Who?

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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