Close South Africa 111 for 4 (Prince 47*) are 541 runs behind Australia 652 for 7 dec (Hayden 122, Martyn 133, Gilchrist 204*)
scorecard

No Pollock, and now no Donald either. South Africa entered the second day at the Wanderers on a hiding to nothing, but even in their worst nightmares they couldn't have anticipated a hiding quite like this. By the close they were 111 for 4, still 342 runs from avoiding the follow-on, with Boeta Dippenaar and the plucky debutant Ashwell Prince holding on for dear life. Australia were inspired all day; Brett Lee bowled like a dervish and Damien Martyn batted like a dream. But the day was dominated by one man - Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist butchered his way to an extraordinary 204 not out, mangling South Africa's second-stringers beyond all recognition. It was a brutal, murderous, yet effortless assault. His 200 came up in just 212 balls - the fastest in Test history. He scored 98 in the middle session alone. He clubbed eight enormous sixes. He belted two balls clean out of the park. Martyn caressed his way to a graceful 133, putting on 317 with Gilchrist - the second-highest sixth-wicket partnership in Test history - and Australia rampaged to 652 for 7, the highest Test total recorded at the Wanderers.

With Australia 331 for 5 overnight, South Africa were just about clinging on to the contest. But when Kallis reprieved Gilchrist (35) at second slip in the ninth over of the day, the tempo of the match shifted decisively. By lunch Gilchrist had bludgeoned his way to 101, with a bout of irresistible thwacking, moving from 58 to 100 in just 23 deliveries. Brutal on anything short, savage on anything wide, and downright insolent on a good length, Gilchrist turned a promising position into an invincible one.

None of South Africa's bowlers had any control over their destiny, not even Makhaya Ntini, who was once again magnificent in adversity - flashes and slashes invariably fell short of the fielders, and Ntini beat the bat far more than Gilchrist's score would suggest. With the total at 573 for 5, Gilchrist offered a hint of a chance as Mark Boucher failed to gather a low stumping opportunity, but within two balls he had raised his 150 with a vast six over midwicket.

That shot alerted him to another target - a billboard high in the stands at cow corner that offered a reward of 1.4 million rand (about £87,500) if anyone could hit it with a six. Gilchrist brought up Australia's 600 with his first attempt - and wheeled away in anguish as it whistled just wide. Umpire Rudi Koertzen was the only South African in the park who could see the funny side. Nicky Boje certainly couldn't, as Gilchrist's second attempt disappeared into the crowd as well.

Amid all this, Martyn ticked along serenely, and briefly hogged the limelight with a Goweresque flourish to bring up his own century - a sumptuous cut took him to 96, an emphatic pull posted the three figures, and a dismissive roll of the wrists flicked a third boundary in succession to celebrate. This was his fifth Test century in eight months after years of being ignored.

Martyn eventually fell with the score at 610, slicing a wide one from Kallis to Gary Kirsten at third man, but nothing, not even the tea interval, could prevent Gilchrist from completing the inevitable. He took just one delivery of the final session, smashed behind square for four, to hoist a magnificent double-century, from 212 balls in 290 minutes. The declaration came minutes later - and South Africa faced a monumental task to haul their devastated egos back into the match.

The writing was on the wall for South Africa as early as the third over. Kirsten (1), still groggy from his fearful pummelling at short leg on Friday, shouldered arms to his first ball from Glenn McGrath, and looked on aghast as the ball bobbled off the toe-end to Shane Warne at first slip (11 for 1). Herschelle Gibbs batted busily for his 34, but he was undone by the drinks interval as Warne skidded his top-spinner into a half-cock defensive stride (51 for 2), and Kallis, on 3, had no answer to a vicious leaping throat-ball from Lee that looped off the gloves to Warne at slip (55 for 3).

Neil McKenzie and Prince rallied with a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket, before McGrath returned and McKenzie (16) top-edged a pull to Gillespie at fine leg (108 for 4). Only the left-handed Prince, compact and composed on his debut, had any answer to the onslaught. He took 20 minutes to get off the mark, but grew in confidence with every delivery, and on another day his cover-drive off Jason Gillespie in the penultimate over would have raised more than just a few admiring eyebrows. But the audience was sated. Gilchrist had seen to that, in an emphatic, inspired fashion.

Teams
South Africa 1 Gary Kirsten, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Ashwell Prince, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Neil McKenzie, 6 Boeta Dippenaar, 7 Mark Boucher (capt & wk), 8 Nicky Boje, 9 Andre Nel, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Allan Donald.

Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Mark Waugh, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Shane Warne, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com

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