Smith & de Villiers put the boot in

South Africa 253 for 1 (de Villiers 123*, Dippenaar 22*) trail West Indies 296 (Lara 176) by 43 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

In the opening exchanges of this match, West Indies lost their first three wickets for 12 runs, and their last five for 10, and in between whiles were buoyed by an innings of incomparable majesty from Brian Lara. In reply, South Africa added 191 in a frill-free first-wicket partnership, and by the close of the second day in Barbados, they were a mere 43 runs adrift with nine wickets in hand, and were closing in on an unassailable position in both the match and the series.

Thanks to the efforts of Graeme Smith, who defied a tweaked hamstring to post his 10th Test century, and AB de Villiers, who played an uncharacteristically restrained knock to record his second hundred and first overseas, South Africa enjoyed a day of unchallenged dominance. Not for the first time this series, they were given early momentum by a shocking clatter of West Indian wickets in the morning session, and with a lead in the series and just one game to come, they were understandably content to play the game at their own tempo.

There were shades of the hare and the tortoise to the two teams' approaches. Despite Lara's pyrotechnics on the first afternoon, Smith and de Villiers recognised the value of crease occupation and instead of going after the bowling they waited for the inevitable bad balls. By tea, they had added 136 with barely an alarm between them, and the only concern for the South African camp was the fitness of their captain, who was forced to call for a runner as he neared his hundred.

Though becalmed in the nineties for a time, Smith eventually reached his hundred in fine style, with consecutive pulls through midwicket of Daren Powell. It was something of a surprise when, shortly afterwards, he failed to get to the pitch of the ball, and lobbed Chris Gayle to extra cover for 104. de Villiers, however, was immoveable. Though flamboyance was on the backburner for much of his innings, he couldn't resist smacking a straight six to climb into the nineties, and shortly afterwards scampered a quick single into the covers to reach a fine century of his own.

It was not the worst performance of the series from West Indies. Fidel Edwards, on his return to the side, was fiery and had de Villiers on his backside at one stage with a venomous bouncer, but there were too many loose deliveries on offer, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul's captaincy once again lacked that vital element of certainty. He was quick to turn to his spinners after lunch, but it was arguably a move too soon, as West Indies needed to strike while the ball was still hard.

The closest that West Indies came to a wicket was off the very first delivery of the innings when Edwards, leading the attack for the first time since August 2004, shaved Smith's off stump with a searing yorker that burst through his defences. Dwayne Bravo, the most animated of West Indies' fielders, gave Smith another scare when he dived full-length at backward-point to all but cling onto a superb catch, but for the most part it was one-way traffic.

All of which confirmed the fears that arose on Thursday evening, when Lara's phenomenal innings ended with 17 balls of the first day's play remaining. It had the look of a match-turning moment, and so it proved in a chaotic first 20 minutes of the second day, as West Indies lost their last three wickets for the addition of four runs in just 19 deliveries, to finish up on a disappointing 296. That was at least 50 runs less than they would have had in mind at the start of play, and by lunch, Smith and de Villiers had put that effort into context, by easing to 50 for 0 in reply.

By losing their last five wickets for 10 runs, West Indies squandered a position of increasing solidity that Lara's efforts had created. The morning's destroyer was Monde Zondeki, who went wicketless in the second Test, but responded with figures of 4 for 50 from 16 overs, including Powell to the fourth ball of the morning, and Edwards one over later.

By then West Indies were a broken team, and Andre Nel tidied the innings up in his next over, as Courtney Browne slapped a half-tracker high into the hands of Zondeki at deep square-leg. Between them, Nel and Zondeki had shared eight wickets, to confirm the wisdom of allowing Shaun Pollock an extra match in which to recuperate from his ankle injury. By the time he returns in Antigua, the series could already be in the bag.

Daren Powell c Boucher b Zondeki (292 for 8)
Edged regulation outswinger

Fidel Edwards c Dippenaar b Zondeki 2 (296 for 9)
Flicked up short ball to short leg for easy catch

Courtney Browne c Zondeki b Nel 5 (296)
Hoisted straight down to deep square leg

Graeme Smith c W Hinds b Gayle 104 (191 for 1)
Didn't get to pitch, skewed to extra cover