Heavy overcast conditions meant an hour's delay for the day-and-night encounter at Buffalo Park, East London, venue of the fifth Standard Bank one-day international. But it did not dampen the wave of momentum in the South African camp despite the early loss of AB de Villiers after winning the toss and electing to bat as they went onto win by seven runs to take a decisive 3-1 lead.

The surge of confidence was palpable in a stroke-filled display as skipper Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis feasted on a below-par performance from the England bowlers. Kallis clobbered Kabir Ali for twenty runs in his first over. The bowler though had the batsman caught at mid-wicket, one short of a well-deserved half-century in the seventeenth over, by which time South Africa had raised the hundred and the second wicket stand was worth ninety runs. The blustery start meant a series-best eighty-eight runs in the first fifteen overs.

Kabir Ali bowled well in patches but Matthew Hoggard faced a nightmarish return after a one-game rest. Paul Collingwood was employed with the task of keeping the batsmen subdued. Gibbs fell for a dainty flick, pegging back the hosts at 119/3 in the twenty-second over. But Ashwell Prince with his agility in running between the wickets scored a brisk thirty-four runs. When he eventually departed, the stage was set for South Africa to turn the screws on England at 181 for four wickets past the thirty-fifth over.

Justin Kemp made a subdued start while Smith was content to push for singles as he approached only his second one-day international century. But just when England pegged back the run-rate, they were hit by a tornado. Kemp was relentless on the England bowlers as he attempted to loft one six higher and farther than the previous one. He hit seven in all, and created deep depressions on England's hopes of winning the series. Kabir Ali came in for sever punishment as Kemp unleashed the power of a wide wielding bat and powerful free arms for twenty-five runs in the forty-seventh over. When Darren Gough finally uprooted Kemp's off-stump, the latter had plundered eighty sparkling runs off a mere fifty balls. Mark Boucher fell in similar fashion the very next ball. Shaun Pollock was sent back, failing to complete the third run, in the same over. But by then, England's time had run out and South Africa notched a mammoth 311 for seven. The batsmen had played to perfection, rallying around the anchoring Smith who restrained his stroke-making to add stability to a well-executed plan.
 

England got off to the most sedate of starts, and Pollock and Makhaya Ntini's remarkable opening act adding to the sombre faces in the England dressing room. England went past the fifty-mark with a catch being taken off a no-ball. Ten runs later, Andre Nel struck in his first over to dismiss Geraint Jones for thirty-seven, caught by Gibbs at backward point.

Andrew Strauss paired with Vaughan before the former was haplessly run out. Kevin Pieterson was unfazed by the ten-an-over run-rate as a breezy fifty run partnership emerged. Pieterson was stroking the ball well, but Vaughan was then caught at mid-wicket by Prince off Boje for seventy, when he tried to hit a six. Vikram Solanki was then horrendously run out. Kallis bowled Ashley Giles after enterprising partnerships with Pieterson. Rudolph, the substitute fielder, then dropped Pieterson but managed to run out Ali for twenty. Ntini and Nel's stupendous bowling at the death emphasized the fact that England left much too late. Pieterson's last ball six though fetched him a splendid maiden century off just sixty-nine balls.

Kevin Pieterson attacks during his splendid hundred