ST GEORGE'S, CANA:
SOUTH Africa, inspired by incisive seam bowling and intelligent batting, humbled the West Indies by eight wickets in the fourth Cable and Wireless One-Day International at the Queen's Park Stadium yesterday.
The victory gave the South Africans a valuable 3-1 lead in the seven-match series and left the West Indies needing to win all three remaining matches in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent and the Grenadines to prevent the visitors from clinching the series.
After routing the West Indies for exactly 200 in 49.3 overs with the experienced Allan Donald emerging from a hat-trick of boundaries in his first over to finish with four for 38, South Africa made light work of the target, reaching 201 for two in 46.1 overs.
Opener Gary Kirsten top-scored with 72 off 104 balls with seven fours while number three batsman Boeta Dippenaar made an unbeaten 62, laced with six fours off 109 balls.
When the West Indies batted, only the stylish 20-year-old right-hander Marlon Samuels, who made 65 off 71 balls, studded with eight fours and captain Carl Hooper, whose 46 was adorned with four fours and a six, batted with the necessary diligence.
In windy conditions on a slightly damp pitch in the early stages, the West Indies found runs hard to get against accurate bowling but compounded their woes with a series of injudicious shots, which resulted in the early dismissals of openers Chris Gayle and Ricardo Powell as well as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and star batsman Brian Lara.
Apart from Man-of-the-match Donald, South Africa's captain Shaun Pollock bowled miserly for one for 16 off his 10 overs while pacer Makhaya Ntini delivered 10 unimpressive overs for 26 runs while taking two wickets.
Swing bowler Justin Kemp, who came into the side after all-rounder Jacques Kallis was sidelined with a niggling right hamstring injury, was expensive but finished with three for 54, including a double strike early in the West Indies' innings.
Needing an asking rate of 4.02 runs an over, Kirsten laid the foundation for the South Africa's third consecutive victory in the series with a disciplined sheet-anchor knock.
The inform Herschelle Gibbs and Kirsten launched the South African reply in enterprising fashion, lashing 10 fours off the first 10 overs in a rousing 58-run opening stand before seamer Kerry Jeremy produced a wicket maiden in his first over to get rid of Gibbs for 27, spiced by five fours off 30 balls.
After Gibbs' dismissal, Kirsten, fortunate not to be given out for a leg-side catch by wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs off pacer Cameron Cuffy when he was 34 as only the bowler with any conviction to Grenadian umpire Glenroy Johnson, featured in a second-wicket partnership of 96 runs with Dippenaar.
The left-handed Kirsten, who has struggled for runs since his 150 in the first Test in Guyana, was finally out at 154 for two when he lifted a catch to mid-off from the bowling of Carl Hooper, who again bowled his off-breaks tidily.
Afterwards, Dippenaar, who reached his fourth One-Day fifty off 94 balls with five fours, and Jonty Rhodes performed the final rites in an unbroken 47-run third-wicket alliance.
Earlier, the West Indies, smarting from the humiliating 132-defeat in the first of the back-to-back matches on Saturday, slumped to 61 for four after being sent in.
The West Indies' owe their recovery to a respectable but inadequate total to a fluent half-century from Samuels, who hit his fourth One-Day half-century.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies innings:
C. Gayle c Rhodes b Kemp 9
R. Powell c Ntini b Kemp 7
S. Chanderpaul c kemp b Ntini 10
B. Lara c wk Boucher b Donald 25
C. Hooper c Kemp b Donald 46
M. Samuels lbw b Pollock 65
R. Jacobs c Pollock b Ntini 8
N. McGarrell c Donald b Kemp 2
N. McLean c Gibbs b Donald 7
K. Jeremy not out 8
C. Cuffy c wk Boucher b Donald 3
Extras (lb3, w6, nb1) 10
Total (all out-49.3 overs) 200
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-22, 3-49, 4-61, 5-128, 6-174, 7-177, 8-185, 9-189.
Pollock 10-3-16-1 (1w); Kemp 8.5-0-54-3 (3w, 1nb); Donald 9.3-1-38-4; Ntini 10-1-26-2 (2w); Klusener 6.1-0-32-0; Ontong 5-0-31-0.
South Africa innings:
H. Gibbs c Chanderpaul b Jeremy 27
G. Kirsten c Powell b Hooper 72
B. Dippenaar not out 62
J. Rhodes not out 30
Extras (lb4, w2, nb4) 10
Total (2 wickets-46.1 overs) 201
Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-154
Did not bat: M Boucher, L Klusener, S Pollock, J Kemp, J Ontong, A Donald, M Ntini.
Bowling: Cuffy 8-2-36-0; McLean 6-0-34-0 (2nb); Jeremy 4-0-18-1; McGarrell 4.1-0-21-0; Hooper 10-1-29-1 (2w, 2nb); Gayle 10-0-38-0; Samuels 4-0-21-0.
Result: South Africa won by eight wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Allan Donald
Umpires: Basil Morgan & Glenroy Johnson.
5th One-Day International, May 9, Barbados.
6th One-Day International, May 12, Trinidad.
7th One-Day International, May 16, St Vincent.
