Lara booed as South Africa complete whitewash

Faced with the near-impossible task of scoring 569 to win, West Indies were bowled out for 217 with 24.4 overs remaining on the fourth day.

West Indies' fate was effectively sealed when they lost their two most experienced batsmen, captain Brian Lara and vice-captain Carl Hooper, within the first 15 balls after lunch.

Lara was booed by a small group of West Indian supporters at the award ceremony immediately after the match. = Lara congratulated the South African team who he said had played hard,

competitive cricket and had performed as a unit.

South African captain Hansie Cronje said he was delighted that South Africa had played winning cricket in front of large, supportive home crowds.

``We set our goal to play 25 good days of Test cricket during the summer and we were just fortunate to have come out on top in all five matches.''

Wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, the most successful West Indian batsman of the series, again played a defiant innings, scoring 78 off 92 balls with 12 fours and a six. = He and fellow lefthander Nixon McLean delayed South Africa's victory by putting on 81 for the seventh wicket with bold strokeplay.

Left-arm spinner Paul Adams was South Africa's most successful bowler, taking four for 64 as South Africa overcame the loss of strike bowler Allan Donald because of injury. Donald, suffering from a strained hamstring which prevented him from bowling in the second innings of the fourth Test, did not go on the field Monday. He took five for 49 in the first innings and dismissed Philo Wallace at the start of the West Indian second innings when he bowled two overs Sunday.

It was a humiliating series for the West Indies, who lost all the matches in a five-Test series for the first time in their history after themselves inflicting three of the six previous instances. South Africa won the first Test in Johannesburg by a relatively close four wickets but thereafter the margins were large.

South Africa won by 178 runs in Port Elizabeth, nine wickets in Durban and 149 runs in Cape Town. Only the Johannesburg and Cape Town Tests went into a fifth day. South Africa won inside three days in Port Elizabeth and in four days in the other two matches.

South African allrounder Jacques Kallis was named man of the series after scoring 485 runs at an average of 69.28 and taking 17 wickets. Shaun Pollock claimed his 29th wicket of the series when he had Darren Ganga caught at gully by a diving Jonty Rhodes for nine, after West Indies had started the day at 18 for one. It was the sixth time in sixth innings that Ganga had fallen to Pollock.

Left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul looked in good form and made 43 before mistiming a pull against Kallis to deep midwicket, where South African captain Hansie Cronje made a good running catch.

Adams claimed the key wicket of Lara nine balls after lunch when Lara missed a sweep and was lbw for 14. Six deliveries later Hooper was lbw to an in-ducker from Lance Klusener for 10.

Floyd Reifer was caught at slip off his glove by Jacques Kallis off Adams before Jacobs and McLean restored some West Indian pride. McLean was bowled by a sharply-turning googly from Adams after making 33 off 45 balls with five fours and a six and the remaining batsmen succumbed quickly.

The victory enabled South Africa to complete their most successful series. South Africa beat Australia 4-0 in a four-match series in 1969/70, the last Test matches before the country was isolated from world cricket for 21 years because of the government's apartheid policy.