BAY WINDOW SHADES

South Africa buried West Indies and with it the ghosts of their shock defeat to Bangladesh. A batting performance, at once clinical and brutal, helped them amass a huge 356 and left the West Indian bowlers battered, the captain bewildered, and their fans devastated; the hosts had been all but unceremoniously evicted from their own party, as South Africa sealed a 67-run win.

The game might be remembered most for the flurry of sixes in the final quarter of the South African innings, but it was made possible by a maiden century from AB de Villiers, grinning impishly as he almost apologetically took apart the West Indian bowlers on one good leg, and an uncharacteristically purposeful and authoritative innings from Jacques Kallis. These two built the platform whereon Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs took off with relish.

The game will also be remembered for some surprising choices from Brian Lara. Jerome Taylor continued to miss out, Marlon Samuels warmed the bench and Kieron Pollard made his ODI debut in a high-stakes game. Devon Smith, the local boy, got his first match of the tournament. If those changes didn't stump you, then the fact that Ian Bradshaw, who has bowled so well with the new ball in the recent past, was kept for the death, and believe it or not, the third powerplay was taken from overs 45-49.

But the way the game began gave little indication of what was to follow. Lara chose to field, another debatable decision, and after 9 overs, with South Africa on 27 for 1, there seemed to be some merit in his choice at the toss. But Kallis soon cleared that debate. He signalled his intentions early on, picking three fours and a six off a single Dwayne Bravo over, creating the opportunities to play big shots by shuffling across the crease or making room. Kallis had come out to make a point, and there was little West Indies' attack - a modest one with no real pace, swing or spin, that was having an ordinary day - could do about it.

de Villiers hits the ball so well and so long, runs so hard between the wickets, and is such a fluent allround batsman that it was only a matter of time before he played a defining innings. Whether he chose the day, or the day chose him, is irrelevant. When he was batting normally, attacking only when he could and defending when he should, the runs still came easily - 50 off 58 balls. It's slightly odd to say so, but the 170-run partnership between Kallis and de Villiers broke at just the right time for South Africa.


Kallis (81) was bowled trying to carve Chris Gayle over the off-side, and as he hobbled off with a turned ankle that had hampered him, the fresh legs of Herschelle Gibbs joined de Villiers, who himself was soon to be severely impacted by a combination of cramps and hamstring hassles. The injury to de Villiers brought no respite. If anything, it made life more miserable for West Indies, as even the pretence of running between the wickets was dropped, and de Villiers dealt in boundaries. The schoolboy smile was replaced by a grimace, and it was near farcical as he clutched his hamstring in obvious pain after almost every ball, having just carted the ball over midwicket or threaded it through cover, down on one knee.

de Villiers finally fell, trying to be a bit too cute, lapping the ball round the corner to be caught at short fine-leg, but by then had rattled off 146 (129 balls, 12 fours, 5 sixes) and taken South Africa to 261 for 3 with almost seven overs left to play. Gibbs, who would end the day completely overshadowed, despite biffing 61 off only 41 balls, and Boucher, watched almost in disbelief as the third Powerplay was taken in the 45th over. For the powerful pair the task proved simpler than picking off tranquilised ducks at low range with a double-barrelled shotgun. Seventy seven runs came from five overs, almost everything disappearing either into the stands, or at any rate to the fence after beating the infield as South Africa ended on 356, helped well along by 14 sixes and 24 fours.

Although taller scores have been chased down in recent times in one-day cricket, not once has it been done by a confused team in disarray. West Indies needed to score at more than seven per over from the word go, and when the top three were dismissed with a mere 69 on the board, only a blinder from Lara could even keep them in the hunt. For a time Lara threatened, lithely striking the ball both sides of point to keep the run-rate up, but when he dragged an offcutter from Kallis back onto his stumps the writing was on the wall - he was gone for 21, and West Indies were reeling at 119 for 4.

Ramnaresh Sarwan did what he could, playing some classy shots in a typically good, if lonely, performance in the course of his 92, but that was not enough. And that was the story of the day for West Indies - nothing they did was quite enough. Daren Powell, who averaged 2.66 before this game, and had scored 24 runs from 21 matches, gleefully bashed the ball around at the end fo

Great Man theory, originally associated with the philosopher Thomas Carlyle, holds that the whole of human history has been determined by a handful of people. In cricketing terms, it has always been hard to dispute, especially when you're sitting at Don Bradman's home ground.

For four days and 43 minutes of this Test match, there was plenty of time to think about such matters, and also whether it might be more amusing to spend the final afternoon hiring a pedalo on the River Torrens instead of watching this turgid contest dribble away to its inevitable draw. Then came the Great Man.

Shane Warne conjured up perhaps the most astounding victory of even his career. Here was a pitch that, all along, had offered the possibility to a batsman with sufficient stamina and perseverance of staying at the crease until the 2010-11 Ashes. Suddenly the placid earth began to crack and crumble and boil and bubble, as if the San Andreas Fault had opened directly underneath. But the fault was all England's. In the first innings, they had convinced themselves the Wizard of Oz was no great magician but just a cunning illusionist. Now they thought he could make the earth move. And so he did.

He was given a shove by the first bad umpiring decision of the match: Steve Bucknor gifted Warne the wicket of Strauss, caught off his pad. From that moment, every demon that has haunted English cricket started to play inside the batsmen's heads. And the greatest of those demons was bowling at them.

From 69 for one, England withered to 129 all out. Australia's task - 168 in 36 overs - was no certainty. But the force was with them, and they won with 19 balls to spare. You could replay the final day a hundred times, and the game might be drawn every time. But it won't be replayed. Such a day could never happen quite like this again. To understand the drama of the turnaround, it is necessary to loll awhile amid the languor that came before. There was a shock at the start: both teams were unchanged, which meant England were defying public and pundits alike by again omitting Panesar and keeping both Anderson and Giles. There was a second shock too, in the sense that English fatalists presumed such an important toss was bound to be won by Australia. In fact, Flintoff correctly called heads, and he did not attempt a third shock by fielding.

There have been better batting pitches - some England players said it was the slowest they had seen all year - but few more disheartening for bowlers. Warne did get some first-day turn, which was remarkable. But it was soon clear this was unlikely to be one of McGrath's Tests and, when the second new ball came, it was handed to the wholehearted Clark. The only good news for Australia was that the Adelaide weather was unusually cool and breezy.

It took a while for England to establish any kind of command. Though Bell and Collingwood dug in, Bell wrecked his good work by mishooking on 60. That brought in Pietersen, but even he could not assert himself. Collingwood reached his hundred off the eighth ball of the second day; Pietersen followed him before lunch. And though the stand easily surpassed the 153 they had put on in adversity at Brisbane, England still had trouble upping the rate. This was due partly to the pitch, partly to the batsmen's caution, and partly to Warne opting for negative round-the-wicket bowling, which Pietersen could only kick away. He later claimed this showed he had Warne beaten.

Relentlessly, though, both men kept climbing. Collingwood's determination had never been in doubt; but he also soared above his presumed limitations as a primarily legside player, cutting and cover-driving, and then dancing down the track to straightdrive Warne to reach 150. Shortly before tea, he became the first England player to score a Test double-century in Australia since Wally Hammond 70 years earlier. Not Hutton, not May, not Boycott, not Gooch, not Atherton... Collingwood. Moments later, he wearily fell for 206, after 515 minutes, 392 balls and 16 fours. The stand was worth 310, England's fourth-wicket record against Australia. Pietersen, however, failed to reach the strange landmark he craved: 159. He was out for 158 for the third time in his 20 Tests. Since he was run out, going for a twitchy single trying to get off his own personal version of 99 or Nelson, we may assume this was no coincidence.

The runs kept coming afterwards, not as fast as England wanted, but quickly enough for Flintoff to declare once the total had hit the 550 mark. Some thought at the time he should have batted on longer; Australia lost here with 556 only three years earlier. As it was, England soon found out what Australia had learned the hard way: it was no fun bowling on this. But they did make inroads with the new ball, and worried an unusually scratchy Ponting, who flirted with the exit several times. The most notable was on 35: he hooked Hoggard to the deep square boundary where Giles, in from the rope, misjudg

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