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South Africa completed a come-from-behind series victory when they beat India by five wickets on the fifth day of the third and final Test at Newlands here on Saturday. Captain Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock set South Africa on the way to their win with aggressive batting early in the day before rain caused a delay of three hours and 45 minutes.

Left-arm opening bowler Zaheer Khan struck twice when played resumed, dismissing both Smith and Pollock, but Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince then picked up from where the earlier pair had left off and crafted a 77-run partnership to consign India to their third series defeat in as many tours of South Africa.

Khan had Kallis caught at midwicket with two runs needed to finish with four for 62. India won the first Test in Johannesburg by 123 runs but South Africa hit back with a 174-run win in the second Test in Durban. South Africa became just the seventh team to win a three-Test series after losing the first match.

The home side were racing towards victory when Smith and Pollock put on 56 before heavy rain started to fall 50 minutes after the start of play. The pair added another 13 runs before Khan dismissed Smith for 55.

Smith started the series badly but made progress in his last three innings with scores of 58, 94 and 55 and captained the side positively in the decisive match. He was fortunate with the first ball he faced on Saturday, scoring four runs off an inside edge against Zaheer but he set the tone for the morning in Zaheer’s next over when he thumped the bowler past extra cover for four and then played a stroke behind square leg for another boundary.

Pollock was promoted to number four after a wicket fell with the last ball on the fourth day. It proved a positive move as he and Smith scored briskly.

Between them the pair neutralised the threat of Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble, with Pollock in particular using his feet and taking the attack to the bowler. Pollock was beaten early on by a ball, which drifted in and then spun past the bat but otherwise looked comfortable. Kumble bowled unchanged for 20.4 overs until only 13 runs were needed, without adding to the wicket of Hashim Amla, which he took with the last ball on the fourth day. Bowling into a large patch of rough outside the left-hander’s off stump, Kumble made one ball lift sharply to hit Smith’s glove. The ball went past short leg for a single to raise the 50 partnership.

Another delivery kicked viciously, beating both Smith and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Kallis and Prince took 125 minutes and 171 balls over their 77-run stand, which ended in an anti-climax when Kallis top-edged an attempted pull against Khan and the ball looped gently to Dravid at midwicket. The all-rounder was out for 32.

Prince hit the winning run when he pushed the ball past Sachin Tendulkar, who came on to bowl in place of Kumble towards the end. He finished with 38 not out.

Scoreboard

India won toss

India 1st inns 414 (W Jaffer 116, K D Karthik 63, S R Tendulkar 64, S C Ganguly 66, V Sehwag 40; S M Pollock 4-75, P L Harris 4-129)

South Africa 1st inns 373 (G C Smith 94, H M Amla 63, J H Kallis 54, M V Boucher 50; A Kumble 4-117)

India 2nd inns 169 (R Dravid 47, S C Ganguly 46; D W Steyn 4-30)

South Africa 2nd inns (overnight 55-2)

A B de Villiers c Karthik b Khan 22

*G C Smith c Karthik b Khan 55

H M Amla lbw b Kumble 10

S M Pollock c Laxman b Khan 37

J H Kallis c Dravid b Khan 32

A G Prince not out 38

H H Gibbs not out 0

Extras (b11, lb1, nb5) 17

Total (5 wkts, 64.1 overs) 211

Did not bat: †M V Boucher, D W Steyn, P L Harris, M Ntini

Fall: 1-36, 2-55, 3-127, 4-132, 5-209

Bowling: Khan 21-2-62-4 (3nb); Sreesanth 13-2-50-0 (1nb); Kumble 25-4-74-1; Patel 1-0-2-0; Sehwag 1-0-8-0 (1nb); Tendulkar 3.1-2-3-0

Result: South Africa won by 5 wickets

Series: South Africa won the 3-match series 2-1

Man of the Match: Graeme Smith

Player of the Series: Shaun Pollock

Test debut: Paul Harris (South Africa)

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and D J Harper (Australia). TV umpire: M Erasmus. Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

Previous matches: December 15-18 1st Test Johannesburg, India won by 123 runs. December 26-30 2nd Test Durban, South Africa won by 174 runs

Source:The News