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CAPE TOWN, 18 (Cricinfo): Stuart Clark confirmed his first-innings display was no fluke as he added to his magical debut with another four wickets to set up a comprehensive seven-wicket victory. Tipped to be 12th man behind Stuart MacGill, Clark penned himself in as Brett Lee's partner for the rest of the series with a brilliant follow-up performance that inflicted South Africa's second batting failure and a three-day defeat.
Clark backed his 5 for 55 on Thursday with an equally impressive 4 for 34 today and narrowly missed becoming the third Australian behind Bob Massie and Clarrie Grimmett to take ten wickets in his first game.
Shane Warne, who picked up 3 for 77, ended Clark's chances of joining the exclusive list when he grabbed the final wicket of Makhaya Ntini and South Africa were dismissed for a disappointing 197.
Set 95 for an important advantage in the three-Test series, Australia suffered three late headaches courtesy of Ntini, but they added the comfortable success to the two in the home contest in December and January.
Matthew Hayden survived a close lbw decision on 23, held his ground with the backing of the umpires on 27 when Andrew Hall dived for a catch off Nicky Boje at forward square leg, and was gone for 32 when he mishit Ntini.
Langer played on three balls later with the score still on 71, and Ricky Ponting became Ntini's third victim before Damien Martyn and Michael Hussey ticked off the next 19 runs.
The comfort of Australia's batting assignment was determined by Clark. Whenever he had the ball it was almost impossible for the batsmen to play positive shots due to his nagging off-cutters and extra bounce.
Having waited 30 years for his baggy green, Clark wasted no time in making an international impact and he was an immediate problem for South Africa this morning in a superb eight-over spell of 2 for 9, which included the vital scalp of Jacques Kallis.
With Lee and Warne expected to run through their opponents on a still helpful pitch, Clark stormed past his senior team-mates and struck twice in his first over when Ponting asked him to finish the innings.
"It's still a bit of a dream and it's been a lot of fun," Clark, the Man of the Match, said.
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