Jacques Kallis took a Test-best six for 54 as South Africa beat England by 191 runs on the fifth and final day of the fourth Test here Monday.
The result gave the Proteas an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the five-match series ahead of next month’s final Test at The Oval.
England lasted just 70 balls on Monday, adding just 44 runs.
England started the day on 165 for five, needing a further 236 runs to reach their victory target of 401 — which would have been the fourth-highest total to win a Test had they achieved it.
Their hopes rested on the shoulders of Mark Butcher (57 not out) and Andrew Flintoff (45 not out), who had put on 70 on Saturday, with just the tail behind them.
Butcher clipped the first ball of the morning, from Kallis, over midwicket for four.
But next ball the Surrey left-hander was out when he edged pace bowling all-rounder Kallis’s lifting delivery through to first slip Andrew Hall.
Butcher’s 61 had come off 133 balls including six fours but at 169 for six South Africa were on their way.
All-rounder Flintoff reached his 61-ball fifty with a backfoot force over cover off Kallis, his eighth four.
But next ball aiming legside, he was squared up by Kallis and gave Hall another slip catch, leaving England 182 for seven.
Paceman Martin Bicknell, recalled 10 years after his last Test, made a streaky 15 before he too fell to Western Province ace Kallis, wicket-keeper Mark Boucher catching the edge this time.
England were 189 for eight and Kallis had his fourth five wicket-haul in Test cricket.
Debutant seamer Kabir Ali (nine) became another Kallis scalp when he holed out to Gary Kirsten at mid-on and England were 206 for nine. Kallis had Test-best match figures of nine for 92.
Andrew Hall ended the match when he had James Kirtley caught in the gully for 11 by Gary Kirsten. James Anderson was nought not out.
The result capped a remarkable fightback by the Proteas, who went into this match without star bowler Shaun Pollock, who had returned home to witness the birth of his daughter.
They had been 21 for four and 142 for seven in their first innings before rallying to 342 with man-of-the-match Gary Kirsten making 130 and debutant Monde Zondeki 59 on a pitch of varying bounce that made life tough for batsmen.
But just as important was the Proteas tail, the last three wickets adding 200 runs in the first innings and 133 runs in the second.
Andrew Hall’s Test best 99 not out was the centrepiece of South Africa’s second innings 365.
But Kirsten’s gritty 60 set up the innings and meant the left-hander had batted for more than 11 hours in the match.
England had been going well in their first innings at 164 for one with Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher taking 54 off the Proteas in the 9,5 overs possible after tea before they accepted an offer of bad light on Friday.
South Africa regrouped and England, who had been 169 for one, were bowled out for 307. — Sapa-AFP