Ntini (13/132) bowls South Africa to victory

Scores: West Indies 347 and 194. South Africa 398 and 144 for two wickets. West Indies resumed their second innings yesterday on 170 for five wickets, a lead of 119 runs and an outside chance of victory or at least saving the game.

But Ntini and his new-ball partner Andre Nel combined to blow away the remaining five West Indies wickets in 9.5 overs for an addition of only 34 runs. Ntini was unquestionably the "Man of the Match," an easy decision for match adjudicator Andy Ganteaume.

Ramnaresh Sawran was left like the boy who stood on the burning deck whence all but he had fled, stroking a defiant unbeaten 107.

He was the only West Indies second innings batsman to face the fury of Ntini without flinching for 356 minutes, hitting 11 fours off the 221 balls faced.

Sarwan’s sixth-wicket stand with Bravo came to an end when the 21-year-old Trinidadian flashed at Ntini and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for 33. The partnership ended on 88 runs.

South African skipper Graeme Smith and attacking 21-year-old opening partner Abraham de Villiers set their team on course for victory with a 117-run partnership.

Despite two late blows by the West Indies bowlers, with de Villiers being bowled by Daren Powell for 62 and Smith caught by Chris Gayle off Dwayne Bravo for 41, it was too little too late, as the Proteas celebrated their 13th victory in 17 Test matches between the teams. De Villiers innings which lasted 167-minutes contained eight, starting with four in the first five overs.

After their departure, star batsman Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph had the mere formality of scoring 27 runs to achieve their victory target. And it was Kallis who struck the winning runs, a four off Reon King. It was South Africa’s second consecutive victory at the Oval following their 69-run win in 2001, when Shaun Pollock led the team.

West Indies skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul was experiencing his first defeat at the helm.

Apart from Brian Lara’s first innings 196 and Ramnaresh Sarwan’s unbeaten 107, it was the sustained assault of Ntini and Andre Nel who engineered the victory for South Africa on their way to Bridgetown, Barbados one up for the start of the third Test on April 21.

In the end though, West Indies fans were left thinking if only, as the no-ball bug robbed their team of two wickets.

King knocked back deVilliers off stump with a delivery with the total on 45, only to see the umpire signalling no-ball.

And six runs later the same bowler saw Smith lob a simple catch to Lara at mid-wicket position, only to be called for overstepping once more.