A cruise for Kallis

An unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 145 between the two Jacques, Kallis and Rudolph, guided South Africa to an easy win over England in the fifth match of the NatWest Series. Batting second under the Old Trafford lights, Kallis continued his sparkling form with an authoritative 82 not out, while Rudolph played with impressive control and maturity for an unbeaten 71 - his second one-day international fifty.

Kallis and Rudolph were completely unflustered in their advance, both concentrating on placement rather than power, despite the odd big shot towards the end of the victory march. Kallis used his experience to pace his innings to perfection and play in the style the dry and slow Old Trafford pitch dictated. Although the bulk of his runs came in singles, he treated the crowd to a few exquisite cover drives, and one towering six off Ashley Giles.

While Kallis passed 300 runs in the series, Rudolph was like a mirror image at the other end. Left-handed and maybe not as elegant with a dominating bottom hand, he too made batting look easy. His success was no secret, play the ones and twos and hit the bad ball for four.

After Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith had fallen early, Kallis and Rudolph - and, to a lesser extent, Andrew Hall - took charge. Darren Gough faded a little after a bright start, while Billy Bowden twice warned James Anderson for following through on to the danger area. He did have his revenge on Graeme Smith, with a peach of an inswinger.

Giles bowled round the wicket to the right-hander for the first time in the series, but conceded 18 from his first three overs. He later reverted to his customary line of attack. As Kallis and Rudolph strolled ever nearer to their target, Vaughan turned first to the old campaigner Gough to make something happen. But Rudolph was having none of it and cut him immediately for four. Kallis then cover-drove Richard Johnson for four in following over, the fifty partnership came up in 74 balls, and you sensed South Africa were winning the race.

Despite a late repair job from Chris Read and Giles, England's total of 223 for 7 was not enough. Marcus Trescothick, playing in a record 68th consecutive one-day international for England, and Anthony McGrath shared a rescuing record third-wicket partnership for England against South Africa. Shaun Pollock took a bit of stick at The Oval, and while questions were being asked about his form and hunger, he showed he was back to his miserly best, removing Vaughan for 3 in a stingy spell of 1 for 21 from his 10 overs. For South Africa it was sweet revenge for The Oval.