South Africa coast to easy win

South Africa 124 for 2 (Gibbs 40*, Dippenaar 60*) defeated West Indies 152 for 7 (Browne 46*) by eight wickets (chasing a revised D/L target)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball

An unbroken stand of 106 between Boeta Dippenaar and Herschelle Gibbs lifted South Africa to an easy eight-wicket victory in the rain-affected second one-dayer at Kingston. But it was their bowlers that had set them in the driver's seat after they reduced West Indies to 152 for 7. Matters would have been much worse for the home side without Courtney Browne's flighty 46 which rescued them from a precarious 67 for 6. But West Indies' total was never going to be enough, and even though Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis fell early, South Africa chased down a revised target of 124 within 27 overs; Dippenaar posted 60 not out and Gibbs was unbeaten on 44 by the close. They now take a 2-0 lead to Barbados on Wednesday.

West Indies must have wished that today, a Sunday, had been designated a day of rest after yesterday's eight-wicket drubbing in the series opener. Instead, when they woke up this morning they had to trudge back to Sabina Park to play their next one-dayer. For a second successive day they batted first - although this time it wasn't their call, as Graeme Smith sent them in - and for a second successive day they were reeling early.

South Africa had another good day in the field - with the exception of some missed run-out opportunities late on - and, once they removed Chris Gayle, they didn't look back. Again Gayle started in bright fashion, slapping Shaun Pollock for two successive fours through the off-side, but again he fell cheaply, for 11, Makhaya Ntini's inswinging yorker beating him for pace. Gayle passed 4000 runs in ODIs with a single off the second ball of the day, but from then on the cheers were almost all South African.

An out-of-sorts Wavell Hinds made just 3 before Smith put him out of his misery, plucking a sensational righthanded catch at first slip off the ever-impressive Shaun Pollock. Brian Lara's demise was a carbon copy of Hinds', and a West Indian nightmare was beginning to recur. Only this time, it was even more vivid than yesterday's. West Indies' batsmen needed to wake up fast, but Ramnaresh Sarwan was caught napping when Charl Langeveldt knocked back his off-stump with one which nipped back.

West Indies were becalmed and had crawled to 56 for 4 by the halfway mark at an agonizing two runs per over, as Andre Nel applied the squeeze with the ridiculously stingy analysis of 6-4-2-0 in his first spell, an economy to be proud of in a Test match, nevermind a one-dayer.

The two Dwaynes - Smith and Bravo - followed soon after Sarwan and, at 67 for 6, West Indies were in danger of collapsing way short of their worst-ever score at home - 114. But Browne steered them past this mark, backfoot-punching a rare four through cover, the first boundary for ten overs.

And for the few remaining overs, he showed once more his ability to attack. As in the third Test, he ignored the previous clattering of wickets to concentrate on his own game, but even though he added respectability to a poor display, his career-best score was in vain. Browne was assisted by his captain Chanderpaul and together they stabilized the initial slide. Chanderpaul's 36 was far from fluent, coming from 95 balls, with just two fours. It was painstaking, paint-drying stuff, but it stopped the rot.

West Indies had a glimmer of hope when Ian Bradshaw snapped up Smith and Kallis to leave the visitors in some difficulty at 26 for 2. Play was halted for rain after that, and with it West Indies' momentum was washed away. Gibbs and Dippenaar came out fighting after the break and made short work of chasing down their revised target; South Africa now lead the five-match series 2-0.