A RECORD third wicket partnership between Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis along with some fiery fast bowling from Allan Donald won South Africa the fifth one day against England In Durban yesterday and clinched them the series.

After Donald had led the way in bowling out England for a paltry 184 in 49.5 overs with a return of 4 for 41 from his 10 overs, South Africa lost Gary Kirsten and Andrew Hudson to Dominic Cork with just nine runs on the board.

But thanks principally to Cronje (78) and Kallis (67), they reached their target with 10 balls to spare.

After a sober start the 118 run partnership flourished and Cronje and Kallis went on to break the previous third wicket record of 106 for South Africa in one day internationals, set by Cronje and Jonty Rhodes against Australia at the Wanderers in 1994.

Cronje was dropped three times on his way to 50, one of them a steepling chance which Philip de Freitas got under but failed to cling on to. When he was finally bowled by Craig White with victory just two runs away he had faced 133 balls and hit four fours and a six.

But it was the 20 year old Kallis who looked the more assured, displaying great maturity in his shot selection and placement, which brought him six boundaries from 107 balls.

He was finally expertly caught on the mid wicket boundary by Graeme Hick. Kallis had earlier been dropped on 55 when Alec Stewart spilled a stinging chance at mid wicket.

For his troubles Stewart split the webbing next to the little finger on his left hand and needed four stitches. Assistant England manager John Barclay described the injury as "knot too serious", but Stewart was likely to miss the last two matches of the series.

He is expected to be fit for the World Cup in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka starting next month.