Melbourne: Australia set South Africa a historically challenging 366 runs to win the second cricket Test after extraordinary batting fireworks by Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.
The two Queenslanders hammered a rapid-fire 124-run partnership in 66 minutes off 93 balls to set up a declaration at 321 for seven 40 minutes before tea on the fourth day.
Hayden claimed his fourth century in five years at the ground, his 25th Test ton overall, with 137 in 356 minutes with 17 fours and two sixes.
Symonds was out two balls later for a swashbuckling 72 off 54 balls to salvage his threatened Test career with a display of belligerent batting that netted six sixes, the most in a Test match at the MCG, surpassing Virender Sehwag's five for India two seasons ago.
Ricky Ponting called a halt to the run avalanche immediately after Adam Gilchrist holed out for a first-ball duck to leave Jacques Kallis on a hat-trick the next time he bowls in the Sydney Test next week.
Kallis took wickets with his third, fifth and sixth balls of his 11th over to finish the innings with 3-58.
After just 82 runs were added in the two-hour morning session, Hayden and Symonds largely contributed to a 129-run stampede in the 77 minutes after lunch.
Although the Proteas have a minimum 132 overs to win the Test at a required run-rate of 2.77 an over, the highest winning last innings at the MCG is England's 332 for seven in 1928.
South Africa's best winning effort at the MCG was 297 for four in 1952-53. At tea, South Africa had made a safe start after the testing total and were 21 without loss with Graeme Smith on 12 and AB De Villiers on four.
The pyrotechnics of Symonds, who turned around his Test fortunes with 3-50 in South Africa's first innings on Wednesday, will be long remembered.
He launched into prodigious sixes of left-arm spinner Nicky Boje (3), off-spinner Smith (2) and paceman Andre Nel, while Hayden clubbed sixes off Nel and Kallis.
Hayden was finally out when he skied Kallis for wicketkeeper Mark Boucher to scamper out to square leg to take the catch.
Two balls later Symonds holed out to Nel and Gilchrist, looking for quick runs ahead of the declaration, hit one down the throat of Ashwell Prince.
First-innings hero Mike Hussey was out soon after lunch for 31, caught at slip off Smith, while Brad Hodge did not stay around long on his 31st birthday before he was caught behind off Andre Nel for 24.
South Africa had a setback when paceman Makhaya Ntini failed to take the field with a left medial knee ligament strain and was in doubt to play in next week's final Sydney Test.
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