Superb Ponting seals series win

CRICKET: Australia captain Ricky Ponting had the last laugh over his opposite number Graeme Smith yesterday after leading his team to a 2-0 series win.

Smith had tried to unsettle Ponting before the series when he publicly questioned his captaincy.

But he came unstuck at the Sydney Cricket Ground when his final day declaration misfired badly and Australia recorded a remarkable eight-wicket win.

Ponting, who became the first man to score a century in each innings of his 100th test, defended Smith's decision but said the South African had been left with "a little bit of egg on his face".

"He was just trying to stand up for his team and show that they weren't scared or had no fear of playing Australia," Ponting said.

"But words don't count for anything. It's the actions and way you play your cricket that really matters.

"At the end of the day we're happy with what we've done and they're probably not overly happy."

Ponting, 31, was named player of the series after scoring 515 runs, including three centuries, at an average of 103 while Smith could manage only 155 at 25.83 with a top score of 39.

Ponting's two hundreds took his career tally to 28 and into sixth place overall, just one behind Don Bradman.

He lifted his career aggregate to 8,253 runs at an average of 57.71, overtaking Rahul Dravid, Mark Waugh, Garry Sobers, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Geoff Boycott and David Gower to move into the all-time top 10 of runscorers.

Ponting also became the first player to score five test hundreds at the SCG as well as overtaking Allan Border as the most prolific scorer at the famous old ground.

Smith defended his decision to make an early declaration. South Africa gambled everything on a calculated last-day declaration that backfired and resulted in the 2-0 series defeat.

"Yes, we've lost but we've said throughout the game that the difference between 1-0 and 2-0 for us is nothing. It's still a lost series," said Smith.

"To set a declaration and try to go for a win was in our minds the only way to play. The negative option never came in."

The Proteas led Australia by 92 runs on the first innings but two days of persistent rain thwarted their hopes of building a massive second innings lead. They aborted their second innings at 194-6 an hour before lunch on the final day, setting Australia a target of 287 off 76 overs to win.

No team had ever made that many runs in the fourth innings to win a test at the Sydney Cricket Ground but the Australians cruised to victory with almost 16 overs to spare.

Smith said his team had not counted on the pitch holding up so well after five days and found an unlikely ally in Ponting, who made 120 and 143 not out in his 100th test appearance.

"Graeme was pretty much forced into doing it that way this morning," Ponting said.

"They had to come out and try and score as quickly as they could this morning and to get enough runs on the board to try and defend at the same time they had to give themselves enough overs to try and bowl us out.

"But that wicket was still pretty good. There was very little variable bounce and the spinners didn't really play a part in the game. There was no other way he could have gone with it. If South Africa wanted to give themselves a chance to level the series then they had to declare somewhere around where they did."

South Africa had made an encouraging start when Charl Langeveldt clean bowled Justin Langer for 20 in the last over before lunch but their hopes were dashed when Ponting and Matthew Hayden piled on 182 runs for the second wicket, including 150 in the middle session.

Hayden eventually fell for 90, caught by Smith at backward point off Johan Botha, leaving Brad Hodge (27 not out) to finish off the job. But all the accolades went to Ponting, who was a unanimous choice for player of the match and the series.

Ponting, now officially entrenched as the world's number one batsman, smashed 16 boundaries in a chanceless innings spanning 201 minutes off 159 balls, passing a series of important milestones along the way.