ap -West Indies' Brenton Parchment hits the ball during the fourth one-day cricket International match against South Africa in Durban, South Africa, yesterday.

durban, south africa (cmc)

South Africa's bowlers endured another hammering over the final 10 overs of the West Indies innings, but their batsmen returned the favour with interest, as the hosts stayed on course for a clean sweep of the five-match one-day international series with a five-wicket victory yesterday.

Responding to the challenging West Indies total of 263 for nine under lights at Kingsmead, the Proteas were given a flying start by their captain, Graeme Smith, who blazed away for a 36-ball 50 that included 10 typically bludgeoning boundaries from the big left-hander.

With that innings dominating a 77-run opening stand by just the 12th over and putting South Africa well ahead of the required rate, the hosts could even afford a rare failure from the prolific Jaques Kallis (1) as AB de Villiers (77) and JP Duminy (44) piloted their team to within sight of the target with a 79-run fourth-wicket stand.

brilliant effort

Duminy's dismissal for 44 paved the way for departing hero Shaun Pollock (21 not out) and Mark Boucher (21 not out) to seal the win and a 4-0 series advantage with 13 balls to spare.

Worth at least 20 runs in the field and having run out Dwayne Bravo with another brilliant effort earlier in the day, de Villiers then restated his immense value to the team, passing 2,000 runs in ODIs on the way to his 12th half-century that required little in the way of pyrotechnic stroke-play. He struck seven fours.

No such fireworks were necessary as both himself and Duminy, continuing with his rich vein of form in the series, found the gaps in the field with ease and left Bravo at his wits' end.

South Africa will be pushing to complete a 5-0 drubbing of the tourists with a win in the final fixture on Sunday in Johannesburg, a match that has already guaranteed a capacity crowd as fans prepare to say farewell to the retiring Pollock.

The all-rounder was inevitably the central figure here, where a near full house of 21,000 fans turned up to celebrate the 34-year-old's last international match on his home ground.

In keeping with a succession of impressive performances since announcing his intention to retire, the former captain did not disappoint, taking the wicket of joint top-scorer Sewnarine Chattergoon (48) to break a solid 97-run opening stand with Brenton Parchment.

a 'tearful' pollock

Reduced almost to tears in the midst of a standing ovation when he bowled the final ball of his 10-over spell in the 36th over, Pollock, who finished with one for 38, including three maidens, was spared any real anxieties in the dressing room as he watched his teammates saunter to their target.

Making the most of ideal batting conditions on a scorching afternoon after Bravo won the toss, Chattergoon and Parchment progressed with few difficulties, although their partnership remained steady at four runs per over almost all the way though until the Guyanese left-hander, within two runs of a second consecutive ODI half-century, edged Pollock to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher in the 24th over.

Like his opening partner, Parchment reached 48 before being trapped lbw on the back leg by Andre Nel. The giant fast bowler, back in the team after missing the last two matches, then claimed the wicket of in-form batsman Marlon Samuels for four via a catch at midwicket by Herschelle Gibbs when the right-hander attempted to pull a delivery that was too full in length for such a shot.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo added 42 for the fourth wicket, again without really collaring the bowling, until the captain was run out for 18 by yet another direct hit of the stumps by the outstanding deVilliers.