Ponting savours 'special' win

"It's as special a win as I've experienced, certainly right up there with the 5-0 Ashes comeback win (in 2006/07) and winning World Cups," Australia captain Ricky Ponting said. "We have not given South Africa an inch and I'm as happy as I have ever been in my career.

"A lot of people around the world thought this team wasn't capable of achieving this but I always felt the Australian summer was a lot closer than people thought and I knew we would be very competitive.

"Whenever you lose a couple of matches, to bounce back the way we did against a side that no one expected you to beat is always very special."

Ponting added: "The new guys in the team, Phillip Hughes, Marcus North, Ben Hilfenhaus, have been unbelievable for us.

"It's very exciting that guys like Phillip have done very well right from the start. His temperament is absolutely marvellous.

“When the bowlers were coming hard at him he just had a smile on his face and he would say he's loving it.”

"That one-on-one contest is what Test cricket's all about."

South Africa captain Graeme Smith said: "Australia are a top-class unit who created pressure and sustained it for a long time and their individuals performed their roles very well.

"They have really bowled well as a unit, they have batted well as a unit and we just haven't been able to sustain that level of play. We fought hard in the second innings of both Tests but started indifferently with the ball in both.

"We did not do enough up front in both first innings. We left ourselves with too much to do."

He added: "We've done all the same preparation as when we won in Australia but the same intensity and execution just wasn't there.

"We never reached the same levels we did in Australia. We did not have the same levels of hunger or desperation."

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