England wilt in the Newlands heat

South Africa cantered to a comfortable 108-run win at Cape Town, with Herschelle Gibbs making 100 before Justin Kemp anchored a final-overs run spree, taking 93 runs off the last eight overs. A burst of early wickets reduced England to 35-3, and despite Kevin Pietersen making 75, England subsided well short of their target.

Game four of the Standard Bank one-day series flickered into life under cloudless Cape Town skies, a fresh page ready to be inscribed in the logs of England and South Africa's season-long duel. For the first time in either this series, or the preceding Test matches, the hosts kept the composition of their eleven unchanged - whether their characteristically fluid batting order would echo that of Port Elizabeth, another question entirely. England, on the other hand, made two changes - captain Michael Vaughan recovering from his viral infection to replace top scorer Vikram Solanki, and Matthew Hoggard missing out for Steve Harmison following the Yorkshireman's struggles at the death at St. George's Park.

England continued their uncharacteristic streak of toss-winning, making it three successful calls in a row, and Michael Vaughan offered his opposite number Graeme Smith the first use of a Sahara Park wicket looking every inch a batsman's track - England's motivation all but certainly based on South Africa's (almost) successful chasing at both Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein, and their own recent history, only rarely having triumphed defending a target.

The two sides emerged as the twenty thousand sold-out places in the Newlands stadium rapidly filled up, the home side sporting black armbands in memory of former Test fast bowler Peter Heine, who played fourteen tests for his country between 1955 and 1961. Neither Darren Gough nor Harmison started with any particular accuracy, contributing seven wides between them in the first four overs.

AB de Villiers was the first of the South Africans to show aggressive intent, pulling Steve Harmison imperiously over the midwicket boundary for a maximum before the Durham paceman responded, beating the outside edge twice as the speed gun edged towards 150kph. It was de Villiers who soon fell - but Gough proved the successful bowler, nipping the ball back off the seam into the right-hander's front pad to record the vital early breakthrough and bring Jacques Kallis to the middle.

Kallis set off at pace, hooking Gough wildly through fine leg before cover-driving the wayward Harmison out of the textbook to the extra cover ropes and out of the attack and with Graeme Smith as strong as ever off his pads at the other end, South Africa's run rate hovered comfortably between five and six runs per over. The removal of Harmison from the attack paid near-instant dividend as Kabir Ali found both seam movement and inswing to the South African captain to rap him on the pads - and despite replays suggesting the ball would have passed over the stumps, Simon Taufel's finger was raised to reduce South Africa to 50 for 2.

Harmison's return to the attack in between a brace of Kabir maidens saw the balance of power shift back towards the home side, the combination of Harmison's lacking pace and the provision of ball directly into Herschelle Gibbs' favourite hitting zone - off the back foot, outside off-stump - did no more than provide two examples for a future coaching video. The introduction of Collingwood at the death of the fielding restrictions complemented and supported the excellent Kabir - whose control of line and length was near faultless. Despite Kallis advancing with intent more than once, both bowlers kept the seam vertical and arced the ball away from the right-handers, finding a consistent shape that put the front-line seamers to shame - allied to metronomic accuracy that meant width was a commodity almost impossible to come by.

The end of Kabir's spell brought about the removal of the shackles as Marcus Trescothick's medium pace provided neither the accuracy, the shape nor the length to contain the home side - especially in combination with Collingwood's equally innocuous pace. Geraint Jones' wicketkeeping didn't help the progressive haemorrhaging of runs as England allowed South Africa to bring the game back into line with the rest of the series, unable to call from a neutral perspective. Harmison was unable to arrest either the slide of the game or his own personal abysmal performance as the innings' Manhattan chart made its way from the suburbs into the financial districts. From a run rate below four, the hosts were suddenly on target for a total in the region of 270 for the third game running.

A brace of what can only be described as freshly baked and delivered long-hop pies were disposed of through and over mid-wicket before Harmison's sixth over finally exhibited a degree of control, eventually bringing his economy rate below eight. Ashley Giles provided something of a counter to Harmison's profligacy, with accuracy over the wicket coupled with more turn than the morning's assessments of the wicket had suggested was likely, provoking Vaughan into bringing himself on as England searched to fill the quotas of the fifth and sixth bowlers.

Gibbs won the race to fifty in terms of time, before Kallis brought his up off the very next delivery - off slightly fewer balls than his partner. The Western Province skies were one of the few horizons of this tour to lie free of ominous thunder clouds, but the atmosphere inside Sahara Park retained a semblance of electricity - the teams jousting for position as singles gradually ticked over the scoreboard, South Africa delaying the moment of launch as Justin Kemp padded up in the Proteas' dressing room.

Kallis and Gibbs took their partnership to 136 in the 39th over, surpassing their own third-wicket record against England, set at Bloemfontein on Wednesday, as both batsmen started to show nascent signs of raising the tempo. Gibbs launched Kabir Ali for a straight six, the path of the ball taking Darren Gough's full-length diving catch over the boundary rope before Kallis paid for the lack of intensity in his running, Collingwood's direct hit from backward point leaving his fellow allrounder some distance short of his crease.

Gibbs followed the maximum with a bludgeoned four through mid-wicket of Gough, before the Barnsley-born paceman seemed to aggravate his long-standing knee injury as he got down to block a straight drive from Kemp, English fans worldwide casting their minds back to his injury at Dunedin three years ago that foreshadowed the end of his Test career. The prospect of a below par Harmison being taken apart by Gibbs - fresh from a further maximum over midwicket off Giles - and the big-hitting Kemp was barely more palatable.

Gibbs cleared his front leg and drove a Harmison half-volley over mid-off for his third six as he moved to within touching distance of his 14th ODI century, and first against England. South Africa seemed certain for 270 or more with seven overs remaining and a deep batting order on an unthreatening, if occasionally two-paced, wicket. The question remained, however, had they left the onslaught too late - would it be enough? The inevitable century was recorded off his 114th delivery, sweeping Ashley Giles as he had so often this innings, before Kemp hit England's left-arm spinner into the midwicket stands.

Gibbs' attempt to repeat the previous over's dosage off Harmison found nothing more than Ian Bell at wide mid-off, the England bowler recovering well from his early aberrations to produce a slower delivery and a mistimed stroke from the right-hander. The next delivery very nearly saw four wickets become five as confusion between the pacy Ashwell Prince and Kemp - not one of nature's athletes, came within inches of a runout following a fast, flat throw from Kevin Pietersen at third man, only for replays to prove obscured and inconclusive.

Kabir and Gough returned for the death as Kemp kicked in to top gear. Ali's length wasn't - as was needed - immediately on the mark as a brace of sixes, one flicked over square leg and the other towering and over long-on as South Africa's run-rate eventually accelerated to ruin the Worcestershire seamer's figures. This hitting saw Steve Harmison's return for a final over, splitting Kabir's final two, as England's efforts to contain Kemp took on a different perspective, keeping the ball short of a length in a bid to restrain the powerful right-hander's driving - a plan which could be deemed a qualified success as just five runs came from it, three of them extras.

Darren Gough's reverse swing also helped to aid England's containment, despite failing to cling on to a violent return catch opportunity off Kemp, before dropping marginally short and allowing Kemp to find the stands for the fourth time, high over long-on once more, bringing the hosts to the 270 mark that has been so key this series. Ashwell Prince then showed Sahara Park that he could do more than scamper as another length ball from Kabir Ali found its way into the crowd, South Africa moving into pole position.

Kemp's rampage continued as he struck Kabir directly back down the ground to record his highest ODI score, and the following ball whipping a pull from a tame short ball through midwicket to record his fifty off just 34 balls. The next ball found the same boundary as Kabir served up a full toss as 270 suddenly became 290. The last ball of the innings was far better from Ali, bringing a run out as Kemp sacrificed himself - Kabir's final two overs leaking 36 runs as his indiscipline of length and the big-hitter's arm strength left England with a far tougher run-chase then they should have allowed themselves. At Bloemfontein, Ali turned a dismal performance into a respectable one inside five deliveries, but his final two overs here achieved the exact opposite effect, with England's seventeen wides doing little to help their cause.

Marcus Trescothick and Geraint Jones' opening partnership had shown promise in the first three matches, but had not yet fulfilled this. As the Newlands thermometers passed 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), there would be few better times to deliver - the run chase requiring 5.84 runs per over from the start, necessitating a positive start as Jones slashed Pollock to the cover boundary and shortly after split the cover fielders with laser-like precision before Trescothick got in on the act, chipping Ntini over mid-off on the way to the rope and dismissing Pollock over backward square for the fourth boundary of the innings as England matched the early asking rate.

Makhaya Ntini's persistent full length, whether by accident or by design, paid off as another attempted cover drive from Jones provided more exuberance than execution and provide wicketkeeper Mark Boucher with a simple catch before Michael Vaughan followed in near-identical fashion, only that the thicker edge off Shaun Pollock found Kallis diving to his right at slip and force England onto the back foot early on. The situation then went from poor to abysmal as Marcus Trescothick somehow managed to completely miss a straight delivery from Ntini to see his middle and leg stumps re-arranged. In the space of two overs, 32-0 had become 35-3.

Pollock and Ntini continued to stifle the English run-rate for the remainder of the first twelve overs, but the entrance of Andre Nel into the attack for the thirteenth over was met with a pair of whipped boundaries through the vacant midwicket region as England maintained the slenderest of grips upon a victory chance, only to see it loosened further as Strauss slapped Nel straight to Ashwell Prince at short extra cover for 17, as the Port Elizabeth malaise of failing to convert starts struck once again.

Whilst Kevin Pietersen remained at the crease, however, the chase wasn't impossible - as Jacques Kallis bore the full force of his blade, hitting the tenth six of the day over midwicket before following up with a brace of fours through backward point and mid-on, before the over ended on another dismal note for the tourists, Ian Bell feathering an outside edge to Mark Boucher and becoming the fifth English casualty inside 20 overs.

Pietersen brought up his half-century with a lofted drive to long-on but neither he nor Paul Collingwood were able to make significant progress facing Nicky Boje, and the reintroduction of Shaun Pollock precipitated the dismissal of Collingwood. With the target rate pushing eight an over, the Durham all-rounder attempted to swing him into the leg-side, but only succeeded in skying a top edge high into the air and providing Mark Boucher with a simple catch.

Pietersen continued to play his lone hand, taking the attack to Boje's negative leg-stump over-the-wicket line, launching him back over his head for four, before hitting two consecutive maximums high over the midwicket boundary. However, the task required more, and another attempted slog-sweep went upwards rather than outwards and only found AB de Villiers out at midwicket. The asking rate had been reduced below eight, but England's dangerman had fallen, and it was, for all intents and purposes, game over.

Another maximum from Ashley Giles brought the day's tally to fourteen, and another similar shot three balls later found the midwicket boundary on the bounce before Kabir Ali ran himself out taking on Herschelle Gibbs' arm at backward point courtesy of a direct hit from the morning's centurion. Giles became only the second Englishman to reach 20, before backing away to Ntini and driving him directly to Shaun Pollock at short extra cover and bringing Steve Harmison, top scorer at this Newlands ground in the second innings of the Test match, to the wicket.

Harmison's efforts with the willow in the Cape this time around were less productive, as he holed out off Nicky Boje to Andre Nel at long off well before reaching double figures, as the hosts made it seventeen wins from twenty in ODIs at Newlands whilst England continued their sorry recent record at Sahara Park. The tourists have lost their last three Tests at the ground alongside four ODIs from five - including one against Zimbabwe following a Henry Olonga blitz, only winning under the lights against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup thanks to James Anderson's outswing exhibition.

The result had never been in significant doubt following South Africa's early triple strike, and despite Pietersen's best efforts, one man is never enough to carry a team, especially a team chasing the best part of 300. With the teams moving on to East London on Wednesday, South Africa have both the series lead and the momentum - it will be a tough task for England to turn things around in the knowledge that with another defeat they lose all hope of a series victory, still missing the balance Andrew Flintoff gives to the side and suffering with the lack of a fifth bowler. As for South Africa - consistency of selection has brought consistency of results, and they will back themselves to take Standard Bank trophy from their current position.

South Africa 291-5
HH Gibbs 100, JH Kallis 71
D Gough 1-53, Kabir Ali 1-58
England 183
KP Pietersen 75, AF Giles 20
M Ntini 3-29, SM Pollock 2-35

South Africa won by 108 runs

South Africa lead the series 2-1 with 3 matches remaining

CricketWeb Player of the Match
Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) - 100

Posted by Neil