South Africa look to Rudolph this Christmas

CRICKET First Test: South Africa claimed a psychological victory over Australia yesterday by batting throughout the final day of the first Test in Perth to salvage a draw.

The Proteas slumped to 138 for four before lunch, but rallied to finish on 287 for five with Jacques Rudolph unbeaten on 102.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith said the result had shown his young team they had nothing to fear from the Australians.

"We're pretty relaxed at the moment and we're happy with where we are," Smith said. "The last five days have given us more confidence, and hopefully we'll be able to execute certain things better going into Melbourne.

"Our top six are very young in terms of games and age, so to go up against some of the best bowlers in the world and perform the way we did showed a lot of character."

The South Africans had no alternative other than to play for a draw after Australian captain Ricky Ponting set them a near-impossible 491 to win.

"We know we could have maybe got ourselves into a position to win the game, but when we got ourselves into trouble we were able to get ourselves out of it and that certainly gives us a lot of confidence," Smith said.

"We got close to 300 without really pushing ourselves at any stage, so I think 350 to 400 would have give us an opportunity if we had batted well."

Ponting defended the timing of his declaration, saying he felt he had had plenty of time to win the match.

"It was a long, hard day for us out there today and our boys toiled away exceptionally well and exceptionally hard, but we just didn't create enough chances," he said.

"We obviously knew the wicket was very good and it probably wasn't going to get much worse as the game went on. There was no variable bounce whatsoever through the course of the game.

"That made the run chase a bit easier for the South Africans.

Ponting said he thought his team had a good chance of winning after capturing two early wickets before lunch, but the pitch offered little encouragement to the pacemen.

"The wicket was incredibly flat, especially for the fast bowlers," he said. "Obviously with the way the wicket was Shane (Warne) was our biggest weapon all day today. Apart from the reverse swing there were no variables at all in the wicket."

Rudolph batted more than seven hours, including the entire last day. After reaching his century in the final few overs before the close he was so tired he could hardly raise his bat to acknowledge the applause.

"It was more of a relief getting through the day than actually getting a hundred," he said.

"Obviously when I got into the 90s the hundred became a goal, but the first priority for us getting through the 90 overs."