West Indies end series of misery against South Africa on losing note

Hahsim Amla

Centurion, Jan 29 (IANS) The West Indies ended their tour of South Africa on the same miserable note on which they started, slumping to a deflating 131-run defeat in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) here.

Chasing a mammoth 362 for victory in a match reduced to 42 overs per side because of rain which delayed the start, the Windies always faced an enormous task and despite a few fireworks, collapsed to 230 all out off 37.4 overs at the SuperSport Park, to concede the series 1-4 on Wednesday, reports CMC.

Marlon Samuels top scored with 50, Narsingh Deonarine chipped in with 43 while Denesh Ramdin got 40 and Dwayne Smith 31. None of the batsmen carried on for the big score as seamer Wayne Parnell snapped up 4/42 to keep South Africa on top. Pacer Kyle Abbott finished with 2/59.

Sent in, South Africa were propelled by superb hundreds from the unrelenting Hashim Amla, who stroked 133 off 105 deliveries, and Rilee Rossouw, who smashed 132 off just 98.

With the Proteas in a spot of bother at 59/2 in the 10th over, Amla and Rossouw combined in a scintillating record third-wicket stand of 247 to get their side up to 361/5. Amla struck 11 fours and six sixes to post his 19th hundred while Rossouw's second century was punctuated by nine fours and eight sixes.

Holder knocked over Quinton de Kock (4) cheaply with the score on six in the second over. Amla added 53 for the second wicket with Faf du Plessis (16) before the latter fell to a short ball.

However, that was the last sign of success for the Windies. Amla raced to his half-century off 49 balls and marched imperiously to a fine hundred off 92 deliveries in the 36th over. He finished the series with 413 runs at a phenomenal average of 206.5 to be voted Man-of-the-Series. He passed 50 every time he batted in the series.

Meanwhile, Rossouw was brutal. He started slowly, gathering just 15 runs from his first 29 balls but then accelerated to reach his half-century from 60 deliveries. He then needed only 23 more balls to each three figures as he ripped the Windies bowlers.

Such was their domination, the Proteas accelerated from a position of 150/2 after 27 overs to score 211 runs off the last 15 overs.

West Indies then had a nightmare start when the out-of-form Chris Gayle wafted at the first ball of the innings, one adjudged a wide, and given out caught behind on review.

Deonarine and Smith were enterprising, adding 77 off 74 deliveries for the second wicket. The left-handed Deonarine faced 50 balls and counted five fours and a six while Smith hit three fours and a six off 28 balls before falling lbw in the 13th over.

Deonarine was run out 11 balls later to leave the Windies on 81/3 in the 15th over but Samuels and Ramdin kept the Windies in the hunt with a productive stand of 91 for the fourth wicket.

Samuels struck the ball cleanly, hitting a four and four sixes off 47 balls while Ramdin was good for a four and two sixes in his run-a-ball innings.

With the required run rate climbing to near 13 an over, Samuels improvised and paid the price, bowled by Abbott in the 28th over. His wicket marked the end of the Windies resistance as they lost two more wickets for just five runs in the space of nine deliveries to stumble to 177/6 at the end of the 29th over.

Russell came out swinging, rattling off a cameo 24 off 12 balls with four fours and a six and single-handedly taking 19 runs from Abbott's sixth over. However, once he got a faint edge behind off the first ball of the next over as he missed a steer to third man off Parnell, the Windies collapsed again losing their final four wickets for 34 runs.

Sammy made 27 off 25 balls before he was last man out.