Tearful Kirsten bows out

Gary Kirsten was reduced to tears after marking the final Test of his career with a gutsy 76 that denied New Zealand their shot at an historic maiden series victory against South Africa.

"From a personal point of view, this is the highlight of my Test career," said Kirsten, 36, the only South African to have played in 100 Tests. "To bat with Smithy [the captain, Graeme Smith] and win us a Test match, it's very satisfying."

Kirsten was eventually dismissed by Scott Styris with South Africa just 27 runs short of victory, whereupon he kissed the crest on his helmet and departed the stage through a guard of honour from his team-mates, who embraced him on the boundary. He has retired from Test cricket with the world-class batting figures of 7289 runs in 101 matches at an average of 45.27, including 34 half-centuries and 21 hundreds.

Despite the apparent ease with which he and Smith knocked off the runs in a third-wicket stand of 171, Kirsten later admitted how tough the day had been. "I wasn't relaxed at all, I can tell you that. It was always going to be an emotional day, and with the stress the team's gone under this tour, we were really determined to win just to make the tour a bit better."

Kirsten made his debut against Australia in 1993-94, and has been the rock of South Africa's batting ever since. Many of his defining innings came against England, including his then-South African record innings of 275 against England at Durban in 1999-2000, after they had been forced to follow on by an inspired Andrew Caddick, and his matchwinning 130 at Headingley last summer, after South Africa had slumped to 2 for 2 in their first innings.

Kirsten announced he would be retiring before the second Test against New Zealand at Auckland, but three consecutive scores of 1 threatened to take the gloss off his farewell tour. But he put that right today, and later his captain Smith paid tribute to Kirsten's contributions down the years. "From a cricketing point of view we're going to miss him," he said. "I'm glad we could give him something to smile about today."