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Dominica - The Proteas’ quicks produced a performance of sustained hostility that augurs well for the forthcoming Test series to wrap up the ODI series against the West Indies by a convincing 67 runs at Dominica’s Windsor Park Stadium on Friday.
It gave the Proteas a 3-0 lead in the five-match series with the remaining games to be played at the same venue on Sunday and at Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval on Thursday (both 15:30 start SA time).
Graeme Smith won the toss for the second match in a row but the Proteas only managed to post what the captain described as an ‘iffy total’ of 224. They, in fact, committed the cardinal sin of failing to bat out their full 50 overs with 16 balls being still available when Johan Botha was the last man out.
AB de Villiers continued his good run of form to make top score of 70 (80 balls, 2 fours and a six) and his dismissal to a direct hit run out by Suleiman Benn was probably the difference in the Proteas not going on past 250.
Smith had been hoping for a total in the region of 250 to 270 which he felt would have been hard to match.
But he need not have worried about the more modest effort. Charl Langeveldt, who took the place of the injured Lonwabo Tsotsobe, got the Proteas away to a good start with the early, key wicket of Chris Gayle after the West Indies captain had struck the previous delivery out of the ground.
Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn then turned up the heat with sustained spells of short-pitched bowling that set up the West Indies losing their last eight wickets for 98 runs.
Morkel had an opening spell of 2/5 in 4 overs and was equally destructive later in the innings to return career best figures of 4/21. This improved on his 4/36, also against the West Indies, at Sahara Park Newlands two seasons ago.
Steyn produced one of the great bouncers of his career to account for another danger man, Dwayne Bravo, with a delivery that flew off the glove and required De Villiers to make ground behind the stumps for one of his three catches.
Steyn had one fiery over in which every delivery was clocked at more than 92mph and he deserved a lot better than his 1/19.
Langeveldt broke the last bit of West Indies resistance when he bowled an over that included three wickets (one was a run out) during the final power play.
De Villiers deserved his choice as man of the match but it could equally have gone to Morkel who now has 10 wickets in the series and is lining up alongside De Villiers and Hashim Amla for the man of the series award.
The Proteas have now won eight ODIs in a row against the West Indies and have won their last six series (three at home and three away) against these opponents.
It gave the Proteas a 3-0 lead in the five-match series with the remaining games to be played at the same venue on Sunday and at Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval on Thursday (both 15:30 start SA time).
Graeme Smith won the toss for the second match in a row but the Proteas only managed to post what the captain described as an ‘iffy total’ of 224. They, in fact, committed the cardinal sin of failing to bat out their full 50 overs with 16 balls being still available when Johan Botha was the last man out.
AB de Villiers continued his good run of form to make top score of 70 (80 balls, 2 fours and a six) and his dismissal to a direct hit run out by Suleiman Benn was probably the difference in the Proteas not going on past 250.
Smith had been hoping for a total in the region of 250 to 270 which he felt would have been hard to match.
But he need not have worried about the more modest effort. Charl Langeveldt, who took the place of the injured Lonwabo Tsotsobe, got the Proteas away to a good start with the early, key wicket of Chris Gayle after the West Indies captain had struck the previous delivery out of the ground.
Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn then turned up the heat with sustained spells of short-pitched bowling that set up the West Indies losing their last eight wickets for 98 runs.
Morkel had an opening spell of 2/5 in 4 overs and was equally destructive later in the innings to return career best figures of 4/21. This improved on his 4/36, also against the West Indies, at Sahara Park Newlands two seasons ago.
Steyn produced one of the great bouncers of his career to account for another danger man, Dwayne Bravo, with a delivery that flew off the glove and required De Villiers to make ground behind the stumps for one of his three catches.
Steyn had one fiery over in which every delivery was clocked at more than 92mph and he deserved a lot better than his 1/19.
Langeveldt broke the last bit of West Indies resistance when he bowled an over that included three wickets (one was a run out) during the final power play.
De Villiers deserved his choice as man of the match but it could equally have gone to Morkel who now has 10 wickets in the series and is lining up alongside De Villiers and Hashim Amla for the man of the series award.
The Proteas have now won eight ODIs in a row against the West Indies and have won their last six series (three at home and three away) against these opponents.
