If it is any consolation to England, the South Africans are even more susceptible to the artistry of Shane Warne. His second five-wicket haul of the second Test not only gave Australia an innings victory inside four days, but also earned him membership of the exclusive 300 Test wickets club.

Beginning the day on 294 victims, Warne finished with six for 34 from 21 overs. His last wicket, that of Jacques Kallis, bowled by the top spinner, was taken at 6.40 p.m. under the Sydney Cricket Ground's lights after play had been stopped due to rain for more than three hours.

South Africa's batting was undeniably inept. But no doubt their mindset had changed after the intense frustration of taking 45 minutes to claim the final Australian wicket, which added a further 29. Before those runs had even been knocked off, South Africa had lost four wickets, the first two to Glenn McGrath and Paul Reiffel.

Mark Taylor predictably brought Warne on after only 11 overs, and after an over warming up, he had Hansie Cronje gingerly pushing forward to be superbly caught at short leg by Ricky Ponting.

Herschelle Gibbs's fatally indeterminate shot, after he made only one in half an hour at the crease, must have been partly the result of nerves. A dipping low full toss was prodded towards mid-wicket, but athletically intercepted by Greg Blewett, who stuck out his left hand and somehow held on.

Brian McMillan came out, bristling with aggressive intent, and pulled Michael Bevan for a brace of boundaries, but was then bowled round his legs by Warne, coming over the wicket.

Three balls later, Dave Richardson played the sort of tired shot of a man nearing the end of his Test career. Warne, accepting an easy return catch, could hardly believe his luck.

An excited crowd of 17,000 would have loved the incoming Pat Symcox, a regular target for the booboys around Australia, to have become Warne's 300th victim, but were taken aback by his violent counter-attack. He drove Mark Waugh for six into the members and thumped Warne down the ground for four.

Kallis, meanwhile, was showing the rest of the top order what might have been achieved. Continually sweeping Warne, and getting well forward or right back, he looked fairly comfortable apart from one or two inevitable gropes at thin air.

Only when Warne came round the wicket did he finally succumb, bowled through the gate by a ball that did not turn as he had expected it to. He had batted more than two and a half hours for his polished 45. Reiffel then mopped up the tail, taking the last wicket of Alan Donald at 7.10 p.m. with the rain falling. Warne commented afterwards that he felt his bowling in this match had been "right up there", with past best performances. It was his fourth 10wicket match haul.

"Loop and turn were there today, and the wicket helped me," he said. "It was pretty emotional getting to 300, although I'm not really a stats man." Cronje professed that defeat "certainly hurts very much". We were out-played, but we'll bounce back for the final Test."

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday they would soon name a new captain for next month's tour of South Africa after Wasim Akram's resignation from the captaincy at the weekend.

PCB chief executive Majid Khan said Akram had informed the board verbally about his decision, but had not put it in writing. Majid confirmed a newspaper interview quoting Akram as saying he would never lead Pakistan again, but would still be available to play and would cooperate with his successor.