Jacques Kallis scored a career-best century Sunday to inspire South Africa to a 46-run victory over Zimbabwe in the tri-series competition.
After man-of-the-match Kallis' unbeaten 125 had propelled his team to 272 for five, South Africa restricted Zimbabwe to 226 for nine and won by 46 runs.
Now South Africa, Zimbabwe and host England are tied with one victory each.
PHOTO: AFP
Travis Friend hit 82 runs off 93 balls and shared 109 with opener Dion Ebrahim (40) to give Zimbabwe hopes of another upset in front of a near-capacity 6,500 spectators at Lawrence Gardens. Heath Streak's team had beaten England by four wickets at Trent Bridge.
But South Africa regrouped once Friend was dismissed and made amends for the disappointing six-wicket loss to England at The Oval on Saturday.
Friend's dismissal -- bowled by Andrew Hall -- triggered a collapse as Zimbabwe crashed from 146 for two to 212 for nine and faced losing with a bonus point.
But No 11 Douglas Hondo hit Hall for two boundaries to give Zimbabwe the extra point.
The result gave all three teams six points each after two games apiece. England will play Zimbabwe in the next of the 10-game series at Headingley on Tuesday.
Andrew Hall overshadowed the efforts of Kallis and Travis with a brilliant allround performance. He bludgeoned 56 runs off 51 balls and shared 91 with Kallis. He followed it up with 3-38 and accounted for a run out with a direct hit and took one catch.
Kallis rode his luck in the 147-ball innings to post his second hundred inside 24 hours. He scored 107 in vain on Saturday as England easily overhauled South Africa's 264 for six.
Dropped on 21 and 114 and almost run out three times, Kallis scored his 10th limited overs hundred that included a six and 14 fours. Having played watchfully and scored his first 50 off 89 balls, the 27-year-old was a lot more enterprising and took only 47 balls to reach his hundred with the 10th four. It was an innings of controlled aggression after the 176-match veteran was called upon to build the total after the openers -- skipper Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs -- failed for the second successive day.
Kallis, who had to deal with his father, Henry, being diagnosed with lung cancer and the death of his uncle last week, said it was tough for him to focus on his game.
Kallis missed South Africa's tour of Bangladesh last month to remain with his sick father. He was also given a week off to join the tour party in England. He said the time off from cricket had helped him reflect on life.
Medium paceman Douglas Hondo bowled economically in his first spell -- eight overs for 15 runs -- to keep the free-hitting neighbors in check in the first half of the innings and conceding just 84 runs.
Kallis' innings was complimented by Hall, who hammered three sixes and three fours during the 88-ball stand.
Kallis and Shaun Pollock, 12 not out, featured with an unfinished 52-run stand for the sixth wicket to put the game beyond Zimbabwe's grasp as the last five overs yielded 65 runs.
Medium paceman Andy Blignaut was ordered out of the attack on the penultimate ball of the innings after repeatedly sending down waist high full tosses -- deemed dangerous by the umpires Billy Bowden and Neil Mallender.
This was after Rudolph batted promisingly for 32 runs during a 55-run stand.
Smith reached 1,000 runs in one-day internationals in his 29th match before Hondo trapped him leg before wicket.
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