11 February 2005	Friday	01 Muharram 1426

EAST LONDON, Feb 10: Skipper Graeme Smith scored his second hundred in three matches and Justin Kemp hammered a spectacular 80 off 50 balls as South Africa beat England by seven runs in an enthralling fifth one-dayer , (partly reported on Wednesday's edition). That gave the home side three wins in a row and a 3-1 lead with only two matches remaining.

Smith, who made his maiden one-day hundred in the third match of the series, batted through the 50 overs to end on 115 not out and put on a lightning 117 with Kemp as the home side amassed 311 for seven after opting to bat.

England clung on despite a slow start, with Michael Vaughan making 70 and South African-born Kevin Pietersen a fine knock of 100 not out off 69 balls - the fastest century by an England player in one-day cricket.

Pietersen had the consolation of pulling a six off the last ball from Andre Nel to reach three figures but England fell short on 304-8.

England, in reply, were still hoping as they reached 214 for four with 10 overs remaining, needing to score at 10 an over to win and with fast bowler Shaun Pollock bowled out. But Vikram Solanki was run out after a mix-up with Pietersen and Kallis removed Paul Collingwood lbw and yorked Ashley Giles to expose the tail with 57 still needed off last five overs.

Pietersen, batting with sore hamstring and who made an unbeaten century in the second one-dayer, needed to produce a miracle finish to match Kemp's and Ali chipped in with a straight six off Kallis.

They still had an outside chance with 36 needed off three overs but they failed to find a boundary off the next two, leaving them 23 to win off the last. Ali was then run out and Pietersen could not provide the three sixes off the last three balls. He hit four sixes and seven fours in all.

The start was delayed by an hour following overnight rain, with patches of the infield covered in sand and sawdust.

Scoreboard



South Africa (311 for seven wkts)



England 



M.Trescothick c Kemp b Pollock                 4 



G.Jones c Gibbs b Nel                         37 



M.Vaughan c Prince b Boje                     70 



A.Strauss run out (Boucher)                   20 



K.Pietersen not out                          100 



V.Solanki run out (De Villiers)               19 



P.Collingwood lbw b Kallis                     4 



A.Giles b Kallis                              15 



K.Ali run out (Rudolph)                       20 



D.Gough not out                                1 



Extras (b-1 lb-5 nb-2 w-6)                    14 



Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs)          304



Fall of wkts: 1-22 2-61 3-117 4-179 5-224 6-236 7-254 8-290



Did not bat: M.Hoggard



Bowling: Pollock 10-1-35-1 (w-1), Ntini 10-0-61-0 (nb-1 w-2),
 Kallis 10-0-62-2 (nb-1), Nel 10-0-69-1 (w-2), Boje 8-1-54-1,
 Smith 2-0-17-0 (w-1)



Sixth match: Feb 11, Durban



Seventh match: Feb 13, Centurion.-Reuters