Gibbs stars before Windies recover against Proteas

Herschelle Gibbs's 55 was the cornerstone of South Africa's 183 for seven against the West Indies in their World Twenty20 Super Eights match at the Oval here on Saturday.

South Africa, unbeaten at the tournament so far, were on course for a huge total while Jacques Kallis (45) and Gibbs were at the crease.

But they lost five wickets for 34 runs in 25 balls to give the West Indies hope of chasing down their score on a good batting pitch and fast outfield.

Fast bowler Jerome Taylor, whose second over cost 16 runs, fought back well to finish with three wickets for 30 runs in his maximum four overs.

West Indies, who'd beaten defending champions India by seven wickets in Friday's late game at Lord's, saw their seamers suffer early on

But spin, as it has so often done at this tournament, yielded a wicket.

Left-armer Sulieman Benn troubled Graeme Smith before the South Africa captain steered him straight to Andre Fletcher at point. Smith's 31 came off 18 balls with six fours.

Another fifty stand, between Kallis and Gibbs kept the runs coming briskly before Kallis holed out off medium-pacer Lendl Simmons to Kieron Pollard for a 31-ball 45.

Gibbs pressed on, hoisting Simmons for a huge six over wide long-on. But soon after completing a 33-ball fifty, featuring that six and seven fours, Gibbs exited when he chipped Pollard to Taylor at mid-on.

That left South Africa 136 for three in the 15th over but the West Indies' revival saw them fall short of 200.

"The wicket was a little on the slow side, back of a length, but generally it was quite a good wicket," said Gibbs who said the run spree dried up later due to his lower order colleagues having had little time in the middle.

"Some of the guys haven't batted that much so they may have been rusty. Maybe some of us went too early."

SCOREBOARD

South Africa
G. Smith c Fletcher b Benn 31
J. Kallis c Pollard b Simmons 45
H. Gibbs c Taylor b Pollard 55
AB de Villiers c Gayle b Taylor 17
A. Morkel b Taylor 10
M. Boucher not out 17
JP Duminy c Sarwan b Edwards 0
R. van der Merwe c Ramdin b Taylor 1
J. Botha not out 4
Extras (lb1, w2) 3
Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 183

Did not bat: W Parnell, D Steyn

Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-105, 3-136, 4-155, 5-159, 6-163, 7-166

Bowling:
Taylor 4-0-30-3
Edwards 4-0-34-1
Bravo 2-0-24-0
Benn 4-0-36-1
Pollard 3-0-29-1
Gayle 1-0-7-0
Simmons 2-0-22-1

Toss: West Indies

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Mark Benson (ENG)

TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)