Ricky Ponting confirmed himself as one of cricket's great batsmen yesterday as Australia rewrote the history books to beat South Africa in the third Test.
The Australian captain scored his second hundred in his 100th Test to guide his team to a comfortable victory over the Proteas, claiming a 2-0 series win.
After South African captain Graeme Smith boldly declared in the morning, Australia raced to a fourth innings SCG record chase of 288 with 15 overs to spare. The quality of the run chase was illustrated by the fact the previous record of 276 had stood for 107 years.
Ponting capped a memorable match by scoring an unprecedented second century, an unbeaten 143, for a player in his 100th Test, and elevating himself into the top 10 Test run-scorers of all time.
As with the first innings, the Test skipper was overjoyed as he reached his ton and waved to his parents and teary wife Rianna in the stands. Ponting was awarded man of the match and, for his 515 runs in the three Tests, named player of the series.
"It's been a great day for us. There will be a lot of great memories to come out of this Test match," Ponting said last night.
"It has turned out to be an almost perfect Test match for the team."
In scoring his 28th Test century, Ponting moved to within one ton of Sir Don Bradman but was last night a bit overwhelmed to register all of his record-breaking efforts in Sydney.
"In a couple of days' time, the more time I have to think about it, it will probably be more special," he said.
"Whenever you get your name mentioned alongside the greats of the game, it is always a nice feeling."
At the end of the tour, Smith delivered on his promise to go for broke by bravely declaring 90 minutes into yesterday's play at 6-194, daring Australia to defy history to claim a win.
The day ended in despair for Smith as Australia cruised to the target. Worse news came when Test debutant off-spinner Johan Botha was reported by umpires for a suspect action, and Smith was fined 10 per cent of his match fee for a slow over rate.
Smith said he did not regret his declaration, nor his aggressive attitude on tour.
"I wouldn't take anything back," he said. "Everyone in the team wanted to be positive this morning and wanted to go for a win. Cricket itself and our team need positive games.
"It was our game plan to come here and be tough and to be able to stand up. I don't think we had done it before.
"Even though we've lost 2-0 . . . we still believe we can beat them."
- IAIN PAYTEN