Another stellar century to Chris Gayle has helped the West Indies overcome South Africa to book a place, for the second consecutive time, in the Champions Trophy final.
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Heading into the tournament as the reigning champions but still forced to qualify, the West Indies made light work of the Proteas as they marched to a six-wicket victory.
Batting first, the Proteas started relatively strongly as Herschelle Gibbs (77) punished the West Indian seamers.
Despite the early loss of skipper Graeme Smith, who was bowled for 19 by Jerome Taylor, South Africa had little trouble compounding 258-8 from its 50 overs.
However, Gayle was in no mood to be intimidated by the Proteas' score and he set about chasing it down right from the first ball.
Gayle smashed 17 fours and three sixes to remain unbeaten on 133 as he combined with Shiv Chanderpaul for a first-wicket partnership of 154.
With the defending champions heading for a comfortable victory, a bout of cramp saw the former skipper forced to retire hurt on 57 but Ramnaresh Sarwan soon picked up where he had left off.
After scoring a quick-fire 27, Sarwan fell to a brilliant Makhaya Ntini delivery but it was a case of too little too late.
Runako Morton and Brian Lara then turned on meagre efforts with the bat in the dying stages but Gayle held firmly to steer the West Indies into the Champions Trophy final against arch-rival Australia with six overs to spare.
