Top 6 closest ODI matches in cricket history

3. Australia vs South Africa, 5th ODI at Wanderers, 12 March 2006

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On 12th March 2006, one of the greatest one-day internationals of all time was played between two of the most fearsome sides ever seen. The match yielded an aggregate of 872 runs with 13 wickets.

Australia, led by skipper Ricky Ponting's century and three half-centuries from Gilchrist, Katich and Hussey, combined with a quick cameo by Symonds, put on a mammoth 434 from their fifty overs. That score was the highest ever in fifty-over cricket, but only till the second innings was done.

South Africa lost Dippenaar in the second over itself, which suggested South Africa would meekly surrender in this mighty chase. But Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs roared back with a sizzling partnership of 187, putting their team well within sight of overriding Australia's score.

Smith was sent back to the pavilion but Gibbs stuck around despite wickets falling all around him. He shared strong partnerships with Kallis and De Villiers to get his team closer.

Once Gibbs perished, Mark Boucher held the innings together and Johan van der Wath provided the pyrotechnics. Boucher held his nerve and hit a boundary on the second last ball to achieve the unthinkable.

By hitting the boundary, Boucher reached his half-century off 43 deliveries, with the scorecard reading 438-9.

Nathan Bracken took five wickets for 67 runs, which went in vain. Mick Lewis created an unwanted record of conceding the most runs by a bowler in one-day cricket. Both Gibbs and Ponting were awarded the Man of the Match, but Ponting declined it, saying that it belonged to Gibbs.