West Indies slide to defeat

South Africa 561 and 226 for 6 dec beat West Indies 410 and 188 (Chanderpaul 74) by 189 runs
Scorecard

South Africa wrapped up a comfortable victory against West Indies by 189 runs on the final day at the Wanderers. Apart from an entertaining 98-run stand between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs, the rest of the batsmen offered little resistance as Shaun Pollock took four of the seven wickets to fall today.

It was always going to be a tough job for West Indies to save the game after they lost three late wickets yesterday. However, once their main hope, Brian Lara, fell early on in the morning, the writing was on the wall.

Pollock was the man who got things going for South Africa as he made a dream start with two quick wickets. Ramnaresh Sarwan was the first to go, out lbw in the fourth over of the morning. The ball pitched just short of a length, kept a touch low and trapped Sarwan dead in front of middle (41 for 4).

Pollock struck gold in his next over when he picked up the prized scalp of Lara for 5. Again, the ball kept a little low, and Lara got a thick inside edge onto the stumps attempting to pull (43 for 5). Pollock celebrated as if the match was over, but Chanderpaul and Jacobs made them think again.

Chanderpaul was positive from the outset, stroking boundaries all over the pitch, including an eye-catching straight-drive off Pollock, and a delicate square-cut off Jacques Kallis's first ball. Jacobs wasn't deterred from playing his strokes either. He launched some big cover-drives and booming square-cuts off anything short or wide.

Jacobs had a couple of scares, though. He survived a close shout for lbw off Kallis, but umpire Darrell Hair correctly adjudged the ball pitched outside leg, and Hair again gave him the benefit for an appeal for caught behind off Robin Peterson.

Chanderpaul, meanwhile, raced to his half-century from 63 balls, and by lunch, he and Jacobs had put on a sixth-wicket record for West Indies against South Africa. But their brave resistance was broken shortly after the break when Jacobs was yorked by a beauty of an inswinger from the tireless Andre Nel (141 for 6).

Chris Gayle again hobbled out to the pitch with a runner, and after he was lucky to survive a close lbw shout first ball, he produced a host of handsome shots. It was a case of stand and deliver from Gayle, who, still unable to move freely, smashed 26 - 24 of them in boundaries.

Chanderpaul was still in the mood for some big shots as well, but that proved to be his downfall. Facing Pollock, he gave his wicket his away with an extravagant flick off his legs straight to Nel on the fine-leg boundary for an entertaining 74 (168 for 7). With the way Gayle was playing, his wicket was only a matter of time, and he edged Nel to Mark Boucher going for another flat-footed drive (176 for 8). Nel sent him off by sticking his tongue out close to Gayle's face, a needless act which could well land him in hot water with the match officials.

Dillon hung around for 17 balls until he was clean bowled attempting a horrible heave across the line to Makhaya Ntini, who finished the match with nine wickets (188 for 9). Corey Collymore was then trapped plumb lbw to Pollock as South Africa completed what always looked like a routine victory. And even more bad news for Brian Lara was that he was later fined 10% of his match fee for a slow over-rate.