Morkel shreds through West Indies

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados // Morne Morkel grabbed three for 33 as South Africa wrapped up a convincing seven-wicket victory over West Indies just before lunch on the fourth day of the third and final Test at Kensington Oval yesterday. The Proteas sealed a 2-0 victory in the series to retain the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy for a sixth successive series since 1998 and have gone unbeaten during their two-month Caribbean visit.

"It's obviously been a terrific tour for us," Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said. "To win the one-day series 5-0, to win both Twenty20s and to win the Test series 2-0. You can't argue with the results we've been able to achieve." West Indies, resuming their second innings on 134 for seven, were bowled out for 161 as Morkel, the fast bowler, took all three wickets to fall. Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted through the West Indies innings to finish unbeaten on 71.

South Africa, set 47 to win, coasted to their target despite a fiery three-wicket burst from Kemar Roach, the pace bowler who took three for 22 before AB de Villiers hit the winning boundary. Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, voiced his disappointment at the results and the support he was receiving. "It's tough as captain to be honest because sometimes when you actually think you're getting the support of some particular person and so forth, you come to find out you're not actually getting that kind of support," he said.

"It's kind of tough. It's something I'm definitely going to deal with and then clear the air and, hopefully, take it from there." South Africa needed just 36 minutes to brush aside the home team's lower order in the morning. Morkel did all the damage, flattening the off stump of Sulieman Benn (nine) before claiming Roach (eight) and Brandon Bess (0) to outside edges. Morkel ended the series with 14 wickets while fellow pace bowler Dale Steyn, who finished with 15, earned the man-of-the-series award.

"They are obviously an important part of our Test line-up, the firepower that they bring to us," Smith said of his pace pair. "Their wicket-taking abilities are crucial to our success." South Africa's march to the crushing victory had a few hiccups against the hostility of Roach, who quickly dispatched Smith (10) and Alviro Petersen (six). Roach also bowled a rising delivery into Jacques Kallis's helmet, which led to an angry mid-pitch confrontation between the two. The pair had to be separated by the umpires. Hashim Amla (25) then sliced a drive to gully at 45 for three, before De Villiers hit the winning runs. * AP