South Africa 620 for 7 dec beat Pakistan 252 and 226 by an innings and 142 runs
Scorecard

Officially, South Africa are the No. 1 side in the world. It was never a question of whether they would win the second Test at Newlands, but rather how long it would take them to wrap up the innings victory. In the event, they required just 15 overs on the fourth morning, with Makhaya Ntini returning figures of 4 for 33.

Ntini picked two wickets in the first five overs of the day. Kamran Akmal fell lbw for 4, and Faisal Iqbal, Pakistan's last recognised batsman, edged to Shaun Pollock at first slip for 11. Nantie Hayward then dealt with Waqar Younis, and after Saqlain Mushtaq had been run out, Ntini and Pollock combined once again to remove Mohammad Zahid and seal the series.

The match was as good as over long before the end of the first day, and although Pakistan showed glimpses of resistance, most notably from the battling Taufeeq Umar, too many of their top batsman threw away their wickets for them to have any chance of salvaging a draw.

The win meant that South Africa leapfrogged Australia to take over at the top of the International Cricket Council's Test Championship. "You can only play by the rules," Shaun Pollock said. "Sometimes the rules work in your favour and sometimes they work against you, like they did at Edgbaston [in the World Cup semi-final tie in 1999]."

Even though Australia are facing an uphill battle to save the Sydney Test, only the most partisan South African would even suggest that the ICC Test Championship has got it right.

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