CENTURION, South Africa (CMC) – 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 here yesterday.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 SuperSport Park, to concede the series 4-1.
Marlon Samuels top-scored with exactly 50, Narsingh Deonarine chipped in with 43 while Denesh Ramdin got 40 and Dwayne Smith, 31.
However, none of the Windies batsmen carried on for the big score needed as seamer Wayne Parnell snapped up four for 42 to keep South Africa on top.
Pacer Kyle Abbott finished with two for 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 balls.
With the Proteas in a spot of bother at 59 for two in the tenth over, Amla and Rossouw combined in a scintillating record third-wicket stand of 247, to get their side up to 361 for five.
Amla struck 11 fours and six sixes to post his 19th one-day hundred while Rossouw’s second ODI century was punctuated by nine fours and eight sixes.
Holder knocked over Quinton de Kock cheaply for four with the score on six in the second over, getting the left-hander to top edge a pull to Jonathan Carter at point.
Amla added a handsome 53 for the second wicket with Faf du Plessis who made 16 before also falling to the short ball when he failed to keep down a pull at Russell and top edged a catch to Sheldon Cottrell at fine leg.
However, that was the last sign of major success for the Windies. Amla raced to his half-century off 49 balls, whipping off-spinner Deonarine behind square for four to reach the landmark.
He then marched imperiously to a fine hundred off 92 deliveries in the 36th over, with a couple to long-off off seamer Carlos Brathwaite.
Amla finished the series with 413 runs at a phenomenal average of 206.5, to be voted Man-of-the-Series. He passed fifty every time he batted in the series.
Rossouw, meanwhile, 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 into the Windies bowlers. In one over from Russell – the 30th of the innings – he carted three sixes and a four in plundering 28 runs off the bowler.
Such was their domination, the Proteas accelerated from a position of 150 for two after 27 overs to score 211 runs off the last 15 overs.
West Indies then had a nightmare start when the badly 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 and taking West Indies along at over six runs an over.
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 to left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso, missing one that came on with the arm.
Deonarine was run-out 11 balls later to leave the Windies on 81 for three 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 as he backed away to give himself room to hit through the off side in the 28th over.
His wicket marked the end of the Windies resistance, as they lost two more quick wickets for just five runs in the space of nine deliveries, to stumble to a 177 for six 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, the 30th of the innings.
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, chopping on to slow bowler Farhaan Behardien.
