Proteas roll to series-sealing win

The West Indies have suffered a humiliating nine-wicket defeat having collapsed to 122 all out as South Africa clinched their five-match one-day series after just three games.

Marlon Samuels made 26 but no other West Indian batsmen reached 20 in a dismal performance on a good pitch at Buffalo Park on Wednesday.

Man of the match Vernon Philander took two wickets inside the first two overs and finished with 3-27, while leg-spinner Imran Tahir claimed a career-best 4-28.

South Africa needed just 24.4 overs to complete the series-clinching win.

Hashim Amla's unbeaten 61 not out took his runs tally for the series to 280 with just one dismissal, while Faf du Plessis made 51 not out.

It was another crushing defeat for the West Indies following a one-sided encounter in the second match in Johannesburg last Sunday when South Africa made 2-439 on the way to winning by 148 runs.

"We batted poorly," said West Indies captain Jason Holder.

"The pitch was a little slow but there was nothing wrong with it."

Holder said the senior players in the side had not yet performed as they should have done.

"We need to show pride in the last two games now," he said.

The visitors were in trouble almost immediately after winning the toss and batting, and were unable to mount any substantial partnerships.

Philander had opening batsmen Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle caught behind inside the first four overs and fast bowler Dale Steyn followed up with the wickets of Narsingh Deonarine and Denesh Ramdin as the West Indies stumbled to 4-43.

South Africa polished off the runs quickly, as Amla cruised to his 61 off 63 balls with nine fours, while du Plessis profited from two dropped catches in making his runs off 71 balls.

South Africa fielded the same side for the third match in the row and captain AB de Villiers said it was an important win ahead of the World Cup next month.

"We've said that in the knockout stages of the World Cup you need to win three matches in a row and we've done that," said de Villiers, who scored the fastest ever century in one-day international cricket in the win last Sunday.

With the series secured, De Villiers said the remaining members of the World Cup squad would get an opportunity to play in the two remaining matches.