CEN­TU­RI­ON–West In­dies suf­fered their heav­i­est ever de­feat in South Africa, when they were hu­mil­i­at­ed by an in­nings and 220 runs, 70 min­utes be­fore lunch on the penul­ti­mate day of the open­ing Test yes­ter­day.

Re­sum­ing at 76 for two in their sec­ond in­nings still re­quir­ing a fur­ther 275 runs to avoid an in­nings de­feat, the Caribbean side ca­pit­u­lat­ed in­side just 15.3 overs to 131 all out, to fall be­hind 1-0 in the three-Test se­ries.

They were ripped apart by the ruth­less Dale Steyn who snatched six for 34 to trig­ger the col­lapse that saw the last eight wick­ets tum­ble for 55 runs at Su­per­Sport Park.

Fel­low fast bowler Morne Morkel picked up two for 43.

Leon John­son, un­beat­en on 33 overnight, top-scored with 39 but once he fell in the sixth over of the day, no oth­er bats­man passed 20.

Ke­mar Roach did not bat be­cause of an an­kle in­jury.

The em­phat­ic na­ture of the vic­to­ry was em­pha­sized in the fact West In­dies were dis­missed twice in four ses­sions, fol­low­ing the wash-out of the fi­nal ses­sion on Thurs­day's sec­ond day. For the hosts, it was al­so their sec­ond largest mar­gin of vic­to­ry in Tests.

West In­dies were hope­ful when John­son and stroke-mak­er Mar­lon Samuels, on 13, nav­i­gat­ed the open­ing mo­ments of the day's play, to stretch their third wick­et stand to 35 runs.

How­ev­er, John­son per­ished to the 88th de­liv­ery he faced in just un­der two hours at the crease, nick­ing be­hind one from Steyn that moved away just enough, to leave West In­dies on 87 for three.

The vis­i­tors' hopes then rest­ed square­ly on a sig­nif­i­cant stand be­tween Samuels and vet­er­an left-han­der Shiv Chan­der­paul but this nev­er ma­te­ri­al­ized.

Chan­der­paul faced just nine balls be­fore falling to Steyn in the bowler's next over, glov­ing a lifter to wick­et­keep­er AB de Vil­liers, to fall for four. Samuels hung around for 70 min­utes over­all for his 17 be­fore fi­nal­ly de­part­ing with the score on 101 for five, get­ting a lead­ing edge to Dean El­gar at cov­er off one that bounced sharply and forced the right-han­der to de­fend.

Strug­gling bad­ly and need­ing a gal­lant in­ings to sur­vive un­til lunch, West In­dies' des­per­ate search for a hero by­passed cap­tain De­nesh Ramdin again.

For the sec­ond time in the match, the right-han­der failed to cope, falling to a su­perb div­ing catch by de Vil­liers af­ter fend­ing off a quick short-of-a-length de­liv­ery from Steyn two balls af­ter Samuels's demise.

He made just four, and has now made on­ly 23 runs from his last five Test in­nings.

The end came swift­ly. Jer­maine Black­wood lashed three fours in his 17-ball stay be­fore glov­ing Morkel to sub­sti­tute Tem­ba Bavu­ma at short-leg for 15 and Steyn re­moved Jerome Tay­lor to a catch at first slip by Man-of-the-Match cap­tain Hashim Am­la for nine.

Fit­ting­ly, Steyn fin­ished off the in­nings when he had Shel­don Cot­trell caught at mid-wick­et by Kyle Ab­bott, for four.

The sec­ond Test bowls off Box­ing Day in Port Eliz­a­beth. CMC

Score­board

South Africa

1st in­nings 552-5 de­cl.

West In­dies 1stIn­nings 201

West In­dies 2nd In­nings (fol­low­ing on)

(overnight 76 for two)

K Brath­waite c Pe­tersen b Morkel 20

D Smith c sub (T Bavu­ma) b Phi­lan­der 5

L John­son c wkp de Vil­liers b Steyn 39

M Samuels c El­gar b Steyn 17

S Chan­derp c wkp de Vil­liers b Steyn 4

J Blackw c sub (T Bavu­ma) b Morkel 15

*+D Ramdin c wkp de Vil­liers b Steyn 4

J Tay­lor c Am­la b Steyn 9

S Benn not out 6

S Cot­trell c Ab­bott b Steyn 4

K Roach ab­sent hurt

Ex­tras (lb3, w4, nb1) 8

TO­TAL (all out, 42.3 overs) 131

Fall of wick­ets: 1-8, 2-52, 3-87, 4-91, 5-101, 6-105, 7-117, 8-121, 9-131.

Bowl­ing: Steyn 8.2.-2-34-6, Morkel 11.1-1-43-2, Phi­lan­der 7-4-6-1, Ab­bott 3-0-11-0, van Zyl 10-2-22-0, El­gar 3-0-12-0.

Re­sult: South Africa won by an in­nings and 220 runs.

Man-of-the-Match: Hashim Am­la.

Toss: West In­dies.

Um­pires: Aleem Dar, Bil­ly Bow­den; TV–Paul Reif­fel.?