Australia had to play the series without their best one-day bowler, Glenn McGrath, whose wife was suffering from cancer.

The South African team also missed their best one-day bowler, Shaun Pollock, in the final match due to a back strain.

A difficult catch by Andrew Hall diving to his left removed Gilchrist in the 16th over while the partnership was on 97.

By the end of the innings, South Africa were under pressure with Telemachus beginning the 48th over with four consecutive no-balls.

"[13] Such a chase had never been attempted before – at that point, the previous highest first innings score was Sri Lanka's 398 against Kenya.

[14][15] The early loss of Boeta Dippenaar for 1 made the South African run chase seem more difficult.

Australia kept the pressure on after Gibbs' dismissal with consistent wickets, but big hitting by Johannes van der Wath and Mark Boucher kept the Proteas in the hunt.

Nathan Bracken, in contrasting fashion to the rest of the match, bowled particularly well collecting 5 wickets and keeping his economy a respectable 6.7.

By the final over of the match, South Africa needed 7 runs off 6 balls, with Boucher on strike.

Ntini, the number 11 batsman, managed to get the bowler, Brett Lee, away for a single to third man and tie the scores.

Boucher then hit a four the next ball (getting his 19th fifty in ODI cricket), sealing South Africa's victory.

That match ended in a tie following a disastrous run-out in the final over involving Lance Klusener and Allan Donald and was called the "definitive one-day choke" by ESPNcricinfo.com.