KEY POINTS:
Daniel Vettori's hopes of leading New Zealand to their first cricket series win in South Africa were dashed yesterday by Herschelle Gibbs, who lashed his 19th one-day century to lead the home side to a five-wicket victory and a 2-1 series win.
Gibbs hammered 10 fours and seven sixes in a 119 described by the Black Caps' captain as "one of the best one-day innings I have ever seen".
South Africa reached their target of 239 with 28 deliveries to spare.
"We were beaten by one man today," Vettori admitted afterward.
"It was impossible to stop him - he attacked us from the start and took the game away from us very early.
"But after the way we were beaten in the test series it was good, at least, to bounce back in the one-dayers and be competitive."
The omens looked good for the tourists at the start, when Vettori won the toss and elected to bat.
New Zealand's confidence was high after a seven-wicket win in Port Elizabeth less than 48 hours earlier.
South Africa's belated decision to include paceman Dale Steyn in the starting 11 for the first time in the series paid immediate dividends.
Brendan McCullum (0) was caught at cover from a leading edge and Lou Vincent (18) was bowled by a slower ball so cunning it might have been delivered from the hand of a magician.
Scott Styris steadied the middle order with 60 from 94 balls but it was Matt Sinclair and Jacob Oram who carried the innings towards a par score of 238 with a stand of 56 for the fifth wicket.
Running hard and finding gaps, Sinclair reached 50 from 68 deliveries with just two boundaries before accelerating with four more boundaries to reach 73 from 78 balls. Oram's 34 came from 38 deliveries and included two fours and a six.
Expectations for a close contest evaporated almost immediately, with Gibbs capitalising on a huge slice of luck when umpire Mark Benson gave him not out to an lbw shout from Mark Gillespie because the delivery struck the bat fractionally after hitting the pad right in front of middle stump.
An innings of thrilling audacity followed in which Gibbs savaged Gillespie's first four overs for 41 runs then did much the same to Oram (2-0-20-0) and Jeetan Patel (3-0-30-0) in their first spells.
Gibbs and Proteas captain Graeme Smith (51) compiled an opening stand of 173 which all but ended the game as a contest until Vettori dragged his team back into game with three quick wickets.
Kyle Mills added another when AB de Villiers drove a clever slower ball to cover and suddenly South Africa had lost four for 18 and had stuttered to 191 for four, still 48 runs short of victory.
Jacques Kallis (30) underpinned the recovery until, with just two more needed, he fell victim to one of the worst deliveries he will ever face, from one of the worst bowlers.
Waving the white flag of surrender, Vettori introduced Lou Vincent into the attack and his first delivery, a wide, horrible long-hop, persuaded Kallis to play a lurching cut which he edged to McCullum.
The rest of the over was played by Pollock in the manner of a small boy refusing to touch a harmless insect, just in case it bites.
Vincent's only one-day international wicket was thus achieved in a maiden, with smiles all around.
- NZPA
