THE West Indies found three new, inexcusable ways to waste their best chance of defeating South Africa for the first time on tour at St.George's Park here last night.

Clearly, and suitably, chastened by their humbling loss in the first One-Day International in Cape Town on Sunday, their bowlers and fielders at last performed with the intensity and efficiency befitting an international team to restrict South Africa to 179 for seven from their 50 overs.

Even on a pitch of uneven pace and bounce and under the floodlights that were used throughout, it was a feasible target to level the five-match series 1-1.

The point was obvious as they got as close as 16 runs before they were all out for 163 in 42.4 overs.

But a grand opportunity was squandered by the crippling run outs of captain Brian Lara, vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and the immediate past vice-captain Ridley Jacobs in which they, and only they, were fully culpable.

It was a mystery why, with such a modest South African total, Lara chose to demote himself to No.5 - unless it was to shield himself from an early appearance against Andre Nel who had dismissed him six times in the four Tests and the first ODI.

The left-hander had made nine when he pushed a ball directly to mid-off and immediately set off for a run he could never complete.

It was a gamble even had it been made with a single needed off the last ball and Jacques Rudolph's direct under-arm throw that hit the stumps from close range found Lara two yards short of his ground.

Four overs later, Sarwan responded so late and so casually to Dwayne Smith's call for a leg-side run off the inside edge that wicket-keeper Mark Boucher had time to run to his left, whip off his right glove, pick the ball up and throw down the middle stump at the bowler's end 25 yards away with Sarwan scrambling in vain for his crease.

Suddenly, the two batsmen were gone on whom a victory vital to the series and to team morale depended.

Instead, a recovery from an unsteady start, in which Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Ricardo Powell had all fallen to Shaun Pollock by the ninth over at 29 for three, had turned into another potential collapse.

And still the suicidal folly hadn't yet run its course.

Jacobs, always a man for a crisis, had gathered 15 from 30 balls when he chose to test Herschelle Gibbs' athleticism on an attempted single.

He was as far out of his ground as Lara and Sarwan when one of the game's premier fielders swooped on his push to mid-on and flicked it underarm back to bowler Robin Peterson to complete the formality.

It left the West Indies 104 for seven that became 111 for eight when Ryan Hurley was bowled by Jacques Kallis after 15 tortured balls at the wicket.

Some face was saved, and a little anxiety generated among the eleven South Africans on the field and the 20,000 packed in the ground, as Merv Dillon, Ravi Rampaul, who had an impressive first international appearance in South Africa, and Corey Collymore raised another 52 for the last two wickets.

Dillon sent Kallis sailing out of the ground with an enormous six over long-on before he was Pollock's third lbw victim of his four victims.

Rampaul rode the luck of three sharp chances to bat with left-handed enterprise for 24 off 34 balls, equal top-score with Dwayne Smith who received the same number of deliveries, alternately blocking, swishing, leaving and smashing four of them to the boundary.

Smith was eventually also an lbw victim, to a full length ball from Kallis he attempted to work off the stumps, and Rampaul was last out, prodding a return catch back off Lance Klusener's slower balls.

The South African relief was evident from their celebrations. The result was always going to be theirs once Lara and Sarwan gifted their wickets but a margin of 16 runs was getting a little too close for comfort.

Lara's fifth incorrect call at the toss, out of the six for the season, seemed to once more put the West Indies at a disadvantage. But an overcast day meant the lights were in use from the start and the pitch never changed character, as it did in Cape Town.

For once, the South Africans were kept in check throughout. Until off-spinner Hurley conceded three boundaries in his ninth over, no bowler was taken for more than an average of five an over.

Dillon's 10 on the trot from the start cost him 26 for the first wicket, Gibbs taken at mid-wicket for 10.

Collymore's 10 overs for 25 included the wickets of the left-handed Graeme Smith, bowled with a beauty in his first spell, and Pollock and top-scorer Boeta Dippenaar, for 83, as they attempted big shots in the closing overs.

For the long-term, Rampaul's nine overs for 33 were the most heartening, for their control, pace and the method in which he despatched the run-machine Kallis.

As always, Kallis took his time to assess conditions, kept for 11 balls over his first run and moving to 16 off 44 balls when Rampaul's fourth ball bouncer startled him into an evasive stab.

The teenager followed up with another, Kallis was fractionally late on the hook and the high catch landed in Collymore's safe keeping at long-leg.

The other boundary catches were by Rampaul himself, at long-off from Jacques Rudolph's lofted hit off Gayle, and Sarwan, at deep backward square-leg to end Dippenaar's Man of the Match 83 (123 balls, eight fours) that held South Africa together.

Klusener made a late appearance after Pollock was out half-way through the 48th over but the power-hitting left-hander couldn't provide the crowd with the fireworks they clearly anticipated, managing seven from 10 balls.