A jubilant Australian team with the trophy after winning the three-Test series against South Africa in Sydney on Friday. The hosts won the third Test by eight wickets. (Reuters)

Sydney: Ricky Ponting scored a century in each innings of his 100th Test to steer Australia to an extraordinary eight-wicket win over South Africa on Friday.

The Australian skipper smashed an unbeaten 143 to add to his brilliant 120 two days earlier as the world champions stole an unlikely victory to complete a 2-0 series win.

The South Africans, needing to win the third and final match to square the series, gambled everything on a calculated last-day declaration that backfired horribly on them.

Graeme Smith aborted his team’s second innings at 194 for six an hour before lunch, setting Australia a record run-chase of 287 off 76 overs to win, a required run-rate of 3.8 per over.

Meanwhile, South African off-spinner Johan Botha has been reported to the ICC for throwing, a team official said

(REUTERS)