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West Indies cruise to win over Proteas in Twenty20 game

West Indies ran through South Africa's lineup to post an easy five-wicket win in a one-off Twenty20 cricket international on Sunday.

Jerome Taylor took three wickets without conceding a run, helping to reduce South Africa to 12 for six in the sixth over before they recovered to 58-8.

West Indies took 9.5 overs to make 60-5 in a match reduced to 13 overs a side because of intermittent rain at St George's Park.

Proteas paceman Dale Steyn took 4-9 off three overs.

West Indies stand-in captain Dwayne Bravo won the toss and chose to bowl, and Daren Powell's first over gave no sense of what was to follow. Taylor took three wickets in six balls as South Africa's batsmen battled to cope with his pace and swing.

Then South Africa's stand-in skipper Shaun Pollock contrived to get run out, as did big-hitting Albie Morkel, while Herschelle Gibbs was brilliantly caught one-handed by a diving Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Johan Botha, batting at nine, dug in, and eventually scored an undefeated 28 off 22 balls, with two sixes and two fours -- the only boundaries.

Taylor finished with 3-16 off three overs.

Brenton Parchment started the apparently easy run chase for West Indies by hitting Pollock for a four and a six in the opening over, but was caught off the final ball.

That merely provoked Devon Smith and Runako Morton to continue with the attack on the bowlers, and they reached 32 in the fourth over.

Then fast bowler Steyn clean bowled Smith in his first over and the run rate slowed.

In Steyn's second over he dismissed Morton, Marlon Samuels and Bravo, and, at 41-5, things didn't seem quite so easy for West Indies.

But Chanderpaul kept his head and guided his team home in the company of Dinesh Ramdin.
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