Australia win first Test in convincing style

Australia crushed South Africa by 246 runs to go 1-0 up in the series after claiming the remaining eight South African wickets inside two sessions on the fifth day in Adelaide.

Glenn McGrath struck twice in the first half hour and Shane Warne finished with 3/57 as Australia took five wickets in the first session to doom South Africa, before Brett Lee finished it off five minutes before tea. Only Jacques Kallis mounted any genuine resistance, remaining 65 not out in South Africa's total of 128. Kallis was one of only three batsmen to reach double figures in the confidence-shaking collapse.

South Africa began the final day two down and with the aim of securing a draw, as Australia did at the same ground four seasons ago. If it wasn't already known, it took just 15 minutes to prove how difficult that aim was going to be.

The previous evening, Boeta Dippenaar had played McGrath almost exclusively off the back, and he continued to stay back and play very straight and correct. The one time he failed to commit to the back foot he got out, departing for a 27-ball duck. McGrath's impeccable line and length paid off, as he delivered a perfectly pitched ball just outside off which Dippenaar, possibly wanting to come forward, played from the crease and edged low down to Warne at slip.

Two balls later, South Africa were reeling at 21/4 with Neil McKenzie also walking back without scoring. McKenzie received an unfortunate decision, shouldering arms to a McGrath delivery that was dug in shorter and seamed back to flick the top of his pad just outside the line of off. Adam Gilchrist actually stifled his appeal and umpire Venkat gave him out so quickly that McKenzie waited to see the finger again. It was a close decision, but the ball was probably carrying over the top and it was also questionable whether it would have come back enough to take the stumps.

Having lost two early wickets, South Africa faced a daunting task on a fifth-day pitch with variable bounce. With his nagging accuracy, McGrath was the perfect bowler to exploit the variances, and he nearly claimed his third wicket of the morning when Kallis ducked into a skidding bouncer that failed to climb. Similar to Sachin Tendulkar's controversial dismissal in Adelaide two years ago, Kallis was taken on the pad rather than the shoulder and saved only by being outside the line.

McGrath had begun in partnership with Warne, who bowled right through the session and was naturally a threat with some prodigious spin. Klusener looked particularly vulnerable against him with his loose technique, riskily reaching wide to drive against the spin as Warne sought to bowl by ripping the ball between bat and pad.

Gillespie replaced McGrath and after struggling initially hit his stride with the wicket of Klusener. After scoring an unconvincing 18, Klusener pushed with feet planted at a rising delivery sliding across him, edging to slip for Warne to snaffle another fast catch with ease.

With a collapse in progress, local boy Gillespie struck again in his next over by having Boucher caught behind for a duck. Bowling with his fingers across the seam, Gillespie had Boucher fending a steepling delivery off the gloves down the leg side to leave South Africa a hopeless 54/6 and Shaun Pollock facing a king pair.

Pollock survived, managing to squeeze a single off a leading edge to cover before becoming Warne's first wicket of the day and the fifth to fall in the session. Pollock pushed forward to a ball that drifted to leg, jamming it off the face of the bat to silly point where Ponting took a superb reactionary catch in one hand diving to his right.

At 67/7 twenty minutes before lunch, Australia might have had thoughts of wrapping it up before the break, but Kallis and Henderson saw South Africa through without further damage at 73/7. Kallis, on 28 not out, was the only batsman to stand tall amidst the carnage, batting solidly and as positively as the situation allowed but lacking anything resembling support.

South Africa fell to a woeful 74/8 after Warne had Henderson straightforwardly caught at silly point off pad and bat for 3 first over after the resumption, the ball again drifting in the air towards leg before spinning back.

Instead of persisting with Gillespie or McGrath, Lee was brought on for his first action of the innings, as Australia leg the game slide somewhat. Kallis became ever more authoritative, emphasising what his team-mates lacked, as he shepherded Ntini from the strike for more than an hour of survival cricket.

Kallis reached a deserved half-century with a scorching cover drive off an erratic Lee, who finally ended Ntini's stout effort by bowling him for 4 off 34 balls. Going wide of the crease, Lee's misdirected yorker was heading down leg before it deflected off Ntini's boot back onto the stumps as the tail-ender couldn't get his foot out of the way.

Nantie Hayward was also struck on the foot but with potentially more dire consequences, as he had to have his toes examined after being hit by a swinging half-volley. Lee then wrapped it up five minutes before the scheduled tea break when Hayward edged behind heaving across the line.

When last day survival attempts go wrong early, it is not uncommon for teams to collapse in a big way, so not too much should be read into South Africa's fifth day capitulation other than the loss of confidence the tourists would undoubtedly have suffered. Plenty, however, can be surmised from the overall performance of both teams and the decisive outcome of the match.

Match report: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Scorecard:
Aus 1st innings | SA 1st innings | Aus 2nd innings | SA 2nd innings

Images: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4