Close Australia 223 for 8 (Gilchrist 37, Lehmann 37; Ntini 3-24) beat South Africa 204 (Klusener 83, Dippenaar 51; Harvey 3-38, Gillespie 3-39) by 19 runs
scorecard

Ricky Ponting's first match as Australian captain ended in victory - just - but only after a magnificent assault from Lance Klusener had almost given South Africa a remarkable victory.

It was a dramatic match full of twists and turns: Australia's 223 for 8 seemed under-par, then looked more than enough as South Africa collapsed to 93 for 7. But in the end Australia had only 19 runs to play with when Klusener smacked a Glenn McGrath full toss down Andy Bichel's throat at wide long-on. It was a sensational display, and classic Klusener: when last man Makhaya Ntini came to the crease South Africa still needed 58 runs. Less than five overs later he was left unbeaten on 0 after a breathless last-wicket partnership of 38.

Klusener's 83 was only his third fifty in 44 one-day internationals, and only his second against Australia in Tests or one-dayers for nearly five years. At the start he was batting almost from memory, but this man has a richer bank to call on than most. He made 29 off his first 48 balls without finding the boundary and hardly finding the middle, but one trademark whack to midwicket off Andy Bichel was pure catharsis. Months of frustration released, Klusener walloped 54 off his last 29 balls, including a huge six off the first ball of Glenn McGrath's second spell. Messrs Astle, Gilchrist and Flintoff should watch out: the original biffer is back in town.

Klusener's performance was all the more remarkable for the mess South Africa made of their innings at the start. They never got going, and were under pressure from the moment Jason Gillespie nailed Herschelle Gibbs for a duck with his second ball, caught off a leading edge at gully (1 for 1). In his next over Gillespie had Gary Kirsten caught down the leg side hooking (2 for 2), and a majestic demolition job was complete when he trapped Jacques Kallis plumb in front on the drive with a lovely offcutter. Kallis was gone for 8, and South Africa were 23 for 3.

Jonty Rhodes (13) went next, caught behind driving at Ian Harvey (56 for 4), before Harvey took two in four balls to put South Africa in all sorts of trouble. Mark Boucher scooped to a gleeful McGrath at mid off (66 for 5) and was gone for 3, and three balls and no runs later Shaun Pollock checked his stroke and was taken two-handed by Matthew Hayden at cover.

Debutant Nathan Hauritz then took a wicket with his fifth delivery, an arm ball that found Boeta Dippenaar's edge and was taken at the third attempt - via shoulder and gloves - by Adam Gilchrist (93 for 7). Dippenaar was gone for a breezy 51, and Gilchrist had become the fourth man to make 200 ODI dismissals.

Hauritz saw the other side of the coin in his next over when Nicky Boje whacked him over long-on, and things got tense as Boje and Klusener added a ground-record 71 for the eighth wicket to increasingly frenzied cheers. With 60 needed from 11 overs, Boje was needlessly run out for 33 (164 for 8), and the game seemed to be up for South Africa.

Roger Telemachus was then stumped off Hauritz, who finished with a very impressive return of 2 for 31 from 10 flat, wily overs of offspin, but an apparent lost cause allowed Klusener to free his arms. As with Astle, Klusener's butchery took the plaudits, but it was not enough to take the match.

That South Africa would need such pyrotechnics to get close to victory seemed unlikely after they suffocated Australia in the field, restricting them to 223 for 8 with Rhodes at his imperious best. Australia struggled to break the shackles after a flying start from Gilchrist: all of their batsmen reached double figures, but nobody exceeded the 37 that Gilchrist and Darren Lehmann managed.

Even after Gilchrist fell to Makhaya Ntini, caught at midwicket off a mistimed pull (50 for 1), Australia were flying at 84 for 1. Enter Rhodes, who took a one-handed, goalkeeper-style blinder off a searing Matthew Hayden cut that set the mood of Australia's stop-start innings. It was every bit as good as his signature moments - the salmon leap to dismiss Robert Croft at Edgbaston in 1998, and the flying stump-shattering run-out of Inzamam-ul-Haq at Brisbane in the 1991-92 World Cup - and changed the whole tempo of the innings in the process.

Ponting soon followed, caught for 14 at square leg off the sort of pull stroke he has been lazily been depositing over the fence all winter (86 for 3). Lehmann and an out-of-touch Damien Martyn added 63 in 16 overs before Lehmann misjudged a glide off Roger Telemachus and was caught behind (149 for 4), and in Telemachus's next over Martyn was put out of his misery after a tortuous, 55-ball 24 when, driving on the walk, he was bowled through the gate.

Michael Bevan scampered and Harvey smacked 31 in six overs before Rhodes struck again, running out Bevan for 18 with a dead-eye hit from point. Harvey soon followed, and though Bichel and Gillespie took 13 off the the penultimate over of the innings from Pollock - one monstrous mow from Bichel off a slower ball sailed out of the ground - Australia's 223 had a distinctly under-par whiff about it.

In the end it was enough, but only just. Consolation in defeat usually involves much clutching at straws, but South Africa's rediscovery of their most dangerous weapon is definitely something for them, and cricket's ever-increasing big hitters union, to celebrate.

Teams
South Africa 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Gary Kirsten, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Boeta Dippenaar, 5 Jonty Rhodes, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Shaun Pollock (capt), 8 Lance Klusener, 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Roger Telemachus, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Australia 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Darren Lehmann, 6 Michael Bevan, 7 Ian Harvey, 8 Andrew Bichel, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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