It's a whitewash

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

West Indies failed to hold their nerve, and were unsuccessful in their bid to prevent South Africa from making a clean sweep of their one-day international series, when they lost the fifth and final match by one wicket in a tight finish on Thursday.

The Windies could not defend a target score of 253, as Jacques Kallis, later named Man of the Match, hit 57 from 55 balls, and J.P. Duminy 51 from 75 deliveries to help the South Africans secure victory with two balls to spare.

Winning boundary

The match was on a knife's edge, when the Proteas entered the final over needing eight to win, but Roelof van der Merwe swung Kieron Pollard to the deep backward square leg boundary, and three balls later, Lonwabo Tsotsobe formalised the result, when he slapped an innocuous wide delivery through cover for another four.

The defeat condemned West Indies to a third straight loss in a bilateral ODI series against South Africa.

West Indies lost the rain-affected opening match by 66 runs, under the Duckworth-Lewis Method, two Saturdays ago at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, where they also fell to a 17-run defeat in the second ODI.

The Windies also lost the third ODI by 67 runs last Friday at Windsor Park in Dominica, where they also crashed to a seven-wicket defeat in the fourth ODI.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul had struck four boundaries in the top score of 67 from 104 balls, and compatriot Narsingh Deonarine supported with three fours and one six in an unbeaten, run-a-ball 53, as West Indies, choosing to bat, reached a respectable 252 for six from their allocation of 50 overs.

West Indies then bowled steadily, when the South Africans started their chase, and Dwayne Bravo made the breakthrough, when he claimed the Proteas captain Graeme Smith for the fourth time in the series, caught behind for 12.

West Indies copped a bit of fortune, when Hashim Amla was run out, advancing too far to steal a single, and failing to beat Kieron Pollard's throw from midwicket to keeper Denesh Ramdin. The bearded batting wonder was later named Man of the Series for his 402 runs, which made him the most prolific batsman in the series.

With Sulieman Benn sidelined, following his sending-off in the fourth ODI, embattled West Indies captain Chris Gayle was forced to bowl his uncomplicated off spin, and had AB deVilliers caught inside the long-on boundary with the last ball of his first over, the 19th of the innings.

West Indies appeared to be out of contention when Kallis, who chopped a delivery from Pollard to backward point for a single to reach his 50 from 43 balls, and J.P. Duminy added 58 for the fourth wicket.

But Gayle had Kallis dubiously caught behind in the 31st over, and Pollard had Boucher caught at short third man for six in the 36th over to leave South Africa needing 78 from 84 balls.

West Indies were made to wait for their next scalp, when Duminy, who turned Dwayne Bravo away to midwicket for a single to reach his 50 from 73 balls, and Johan Botha added a useful 36 to stabilise their side's innings.

35 runs off of 34 balls

The home team then put the skids on the South Africans, when they claimed four wickets - including Duminy and Botha - for 35 runs in the space of 34 balls between the 44th and 49th over, but ran out of steam in the end.

Earlier, Chanderpaul reached his 50 from 79 balls with a pull to the wide long-on boundary for four off Kallis, who Deonarine also drove straight for a deuce to reach his landmark from 49 balls.

West Indies wobbled to 45 for two in the 11th over before Darren Bravo joined Chanderpaul to put on 51 for the third wicket.

SCOREBOARD

West Indies (50 overs maximum)

D. Richards c Kallis b Tsotsobe 19C. Gayle cSmith b McLaren 12S. Chanderpaul lbw b Botha 67D.M. Bravo c Boucher b van der Merwe 17D.J. Bravo b Tsotsobe 26N. Deonarine not out 53K. Pollard cSmith b Kallis 25D. Sammy not out 19Extras: (lb4, w8, nb2) 14TOTAL: (6 wkts, 50 overs) 252

Did not bat: +D. Ramdin, D. Bernard, J. Taylor

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Richards, 3.6 overs); 2-45 (Gayle, 10.2); 3-96 (D.M. Bravo, 24.3); 4-137 (D.J. Bravo, 34.1); 5-161 (Chanderpaul, 39.5); 6-219 (Pollard, 46.5)

Bowling: Langeveldt 8-0-48-0 (w2); Tsotsobe 7-1-31-2 (w1); McLaren 7-0-46-1 (w4); Kallis 6-0-38-1 (nb1); Botha 10-0-48-1 (nb1, w1); van der Merwe 10-1-27-1; Duminy 2-0-10-0

South Africa (target: 253 from 50 overs)

H. Amla run out (Pollard/Ramdin) 45G. Smith c wkpr Ramdin b D.J. Bravo 12J. Kallis c wk Ramdin bGayle 57+A. de Villiers c Chanderpaul bGayle 13J. Duminy b Taylor 51M. Boucher c Chanderpaul b Pollard 6J. Botha c Bernard b Pollard 24R. McLaren run out (Chanderpaul) 12R. van der Merwe not out 10C. Langeveldt c wk Ramdin b Bravo 6L. Tsotsobe not out 4Extras: (lb1, w14) 15TOTAL: (9 wkts, 49.4 overs) 255

Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Smith, 8.3 overs); 2-76 (Amla, 13.6); 3-105 (+deVilliers, 18.6); 4-163 (Kallis, 30.5); 5-175 (Boucher, 35.6); 6-211 (Duminy, 43.3); 7-234 (Botha, 47.1); 8-235 (McLaren, 47.4); 9-246 (Langeveldt, 48.6)

Bowling: Taylor 8-0-36-1 (w4); Bernard 5-0-30-0; D.J. Bravo 10-0-73-2 (w8); Sammy 4-0-24-0;Gayle 10-1-38-2 (w1); Deonarine 3-0-11-0; Pollard 9.4-0-42-2 (w1)

Result: South Africa won by one wicket (with two balls to spare)

Series: South Africa win five-match series 5-0

Toss: West Indies

Man of the Match: Jacques Kallis (South Africa)

Man of the Series: Hashim Amla (South Africa)

Umpires: D. Harper, N. Malcolm