South Africa rely on the K factor to beat late England charge

Cape Town - South Africa's reliance of the K factor emerged during the World Cup last year when mostly Lance Klusener engineered victory out of any number of improbable situations. On occasions we also had Jacques Kallis embroidering a few fancy touches.

At Newlands on Wednesday both combined to give England a double barrel blast in one of the more sensational finishes to a slogs event as we are going to see in this particular triangular series.

And at the end of it all, with four needed off the last ball to win, Darren Gough swings at a Kallis delivery and the best he can gallop is a two as South Africa scrape home by one run.

No doubt it will go down in the column of matches won by one run or less in some esoteric book of records and close finishes in LOIs; and yes, for many it was a tad like the players enclosure being knee deep in chewed finger-nails (yet again). Even the Barmy Army pals were arguing whether or not to sing the "Run, Allan, run ..." ditty they love trotting out so much on this tour

This time the refrain might be transferred to "Oh no, Goughie, we needed a four ..." as Kallis, man of the match, bowled the last delivery in an over which had even a touch of Shakespearean drama as the finger of fate flicked first England's way then South Africa's.

In the 49th over bowled by Shaun Pollock, five deliveries went for 16 runs as Mark Ealham and Chris Read almost slogged their way into history. Two Pommie wins in this series over South Africa may have triggered an identity crisis. When did England last win consecutive matches is one question which suggests they are the sort of side which doesn't know how to perform such miracles.

Read clobbered a six and a four as well as a single as Pollock was pasted all over Newlands. Ealham swung and picked up a boundary. When he swung again and got a delivery high on the bat (as near to the splice you are going to get) an Jonty Rhodes took as pretty a safe catch as you are going to see.

Andrew Caddick arrived and Read swung again grabbed a single, facing Kallis and the start of the last over. South Africa's captain, Hansie Crone, seemed to have trusted his instincts as well as gut feel on this one and declined to bowl himself or Pieter Strydom. He relied on his front five and backed them and that was enough. Cronje admitted, though "the game was all too close".

Winning the toss and deciding that reputations being what they are after dusk at Newlands batting first was the best option and the best way to turn around that dreadful nine wickets thrashing in Bloemfontein on Sunday.

The pitch was about as snail pace as was Goodyear Park in Bloem last Sunday and the outfield even slower than it was during the fourth Test. Boundaries were far from easy and galloping threes was almost a compulsory exercise. So it was no mean feat for the likes of Nick Knight to slap the first and Ealham to chalk up the second to bring England that little closer.

Building partnerships was far from being an exercise as the slow puncture we experienced in the South Africa innings all but repeated itself. Kallis knuckled down and built an innings of 43 as he watched the procession of Herschelle Gibbs, Jonty Rhodes and his captain come and go. There had been speculation Rhodes would be ready for the game and he came in at four in the order with Dale Benkenstein left out as the selectors made three necessary changes: Mornantau Hayward for Nicky Boje, Rhodes for Benkenstein and Williams for David Terbrugge who had such a disappointing game in Bloemfontein.

There was the suspicion Terbrugge was in need to a re-evaluation of his bowling form having missed out at the Wanders and being pushed in against England in Bloemfontein. He should have played in the first game against Zimbabwe at the Wanderers to see what he can do. But the selectors have no doubt now got the idea that it was not a good idea in either Bloem or Newlands. Kallis was run out by an Ealham throw for 43: running slap into the rotund Natal umpire Wilf Diedricks and failing to make good his ground. It was a touch bizarre and ironic.

Klusener took over, but as with Kallis runs were not easy: chipping away at old myths and new theories seemed to go hand in glove. He did what he could before the run out.

It Kallis did what he could to nurse the total along Klusener looked for partners to build the innings and take the score past the 200 mark. It was a psychological thing; South Africa needed to get their act together. Klusener did it with a typical flourish.

What happened next is typical slogs flare. Every time South Africa started building a total new crisis would arise. On the face of it they were lucky to get to a pick up 200; after that it was a bonus. Gough bowled tidily with swing and seam and awkward angles.

While Nasser Hussain went quickly to a peachy delivery; it was a question of collecting other wickets. There was some care, stubborn and solid resistance from Nick Knight and Graeme Hick with the pair building a partnership of 68.

Then the two fell quickly (within in three balls as it were) with Hick falling lbw to Kallis and Knight getting an edge. The rest of the innings started to lose its drive with some outstanding bowling and fielding which reduced their areas of frustration for South Africa.

Chris Adams looked the part of a batsman trying to save the innings but once he went the charade South Africa kept on plugging away and the result was in doubt until that final delivery - the crowd's cheering drew attention that either side could win - it was that sort of uncertainty which comes over the game as the bowlers are hard to get away and the batsmen fret about putting runs on the board.

England seemed to win and then lose the scent in their quest for runs. As the wickets fell the moon was just that extra too high to reach and Polly and Kallis were that much better than they had been in Bloemfontein.

South Africa though proved to on top of the situation and with more slog than nudge and push, England almost got there before Kallis bowled that final over - in the end pushing the hosts into the log lead and silencing the Barmy Army.