WI out of WC, lose to South Africa by 67 run

St George's, Grenada, Apr 11 (UNI) AB de Villiers led the charge with his ferocious 129-ball 146 as South Africa inflicted a 67-run defeat on the West Indies in a crucial Super Eight league match virtually eliminating the hosts from the World cup here.

This was West Indies's fourth straight defeat in the Super league. Chasing a mammoth 357-run target to win, the hosts never showed any inclination of making a match of it and could manage 289 for 9 in 50 overs.

With this the jinx of the hosts not winning the World Cup continued as the West Indies now have only two points and they are to play two more matches against Bangladesh and England.

The win has improved South Africa's chances of making it to the semifinals as they now have six points from four matches. They are slated to play New Zealand and England in their last two league matches.

It turned out to be a one sided affair after South Africa decimated home team's bowling and when the West Indies came, it looked as if they had already given up.

The home team started disastrously losing opener Shivnarain Chandepaul in the third over when the score was just five and then a sixty-run second wicket partnership between Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith added bit of excitement but once Andrew Nel broke the stand getting rid of the latter, the collapse started.

Smith made 33 of 27 balls hitting four boundaries. Four runs and three balls later Chris Gayle was superbly run out and West Indies were in deep trouble at 69 for 3. Gayle's contribution was 32 (35 balls, 3x4).

Skipper Brian Lara and his deputy Ramnaresh Sarwan tried to halt the slide adding 40 runs for the fourth wicket but then Lara ran out of steam, lost his concentration and was bowled by Kallis. The skipper made 21 off 26 balls. With score reading 119 for 4 it was all over for the hosts.

However, Sarwan on the other end waged a lone battle and to some extent saved the home team blushes by taking the total past 200.

However he was unlucky to miss his hundred by eight run as he was caught by Shaun Pollock off Ntini. His 92 came off 75 balls and included one six and ten hits to the fence.

Ian Bradshaw (20, 1x4, 45 balls) and D Powell's unbeaten 36-ball 48 (2x4,3x6) helped the score to go beyond 250 but that was all the West Indies could do in this must-win match.

For South Africa, Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith shared two wickets each.

More UNI