Johannesburg: South Africa defeated West Indies by 284 runs in the second and final Test to finish their World Test Championship cycle with an emphatic 2-0 series win, here on Saturday.
The Proteas have now won 22 out of 32 Tests against the Men in Maroon. With this 2-0 series win, South Africa are placed third in the WTC standings.
The hosts began the day with a lead of 356 runs over West Indies. A flurry of quick wickets meant that they were bowled out at 321, having added merely 34 runs to the overnight total. Jason Holder (3-48) and Kyle Mayers (3-46) were the pick of West Indies bowlers.
However, an imposing target of 391 proved to be more than enough as West Indies’ batting unit collapsed like a pack of cards in the second innings. Six West Indies batters fell to single-digit scores.
At the end of the first session, West Indies were in deep trouble at 34/6, and it seemed like they’d fail to cross 100. But Joshua Da Silva (34), Holder (19) and Alzarri Joseph (18) showed some fight lower down the order as the visitors were eventually bowled out for 106 to lose the game by 284 runs.
Gerald Coetzee (3-37), Simon Harmer (3-45), Kagiso Rabada (2-19) and Keshav Maharaj (2-4) starred with the ball.
The only bad news for South Africa on the day was a freak mishap for Maharaj, which occurred while he was celebrating the dismissal of Mayers. The slow left-arm orthodox spinner hurt his left foot and had to be stretchered off from the ground.
Brief scores: South Africa 320 & 321 all out in 100.4 overs (Temba Bavuma 172; Kyle Mayers 3-46) beat West Indies 251 & 106 all out in 35.2 overs (Joshua Da Silva 34; Gerald Coetzee 3-37) by 284 runs.
–IANS