AT last - at long, long last - a victory to savour in the closing days of a previously barren and difficult tour.
And the first defeat inflicted by the West Indies on South Africa, after six weeks and eight matches, in the fourth one-day international at sunlit Supersport Park yesterday was no ordinary thrashing.
It was as comprehensive as any they themselves had endured in three of the four Tests and the first two matches in the one-day series, an almost dismissive romp to an imposing target of 298 with seven wickets and five overs to spare.
It sets up a fifth and final match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Wednesday night that the West Indies, 2-1 behind, must win to carry back the late consolation of a drawn one-day series.
Their total of 300 for three was built around one of those innings that confirm Shivnarine Chanderpaul's status as the most versatile batsman in the team and the third-wicket partnership of 108 from 19 overs he shared with Ramnaresh Sarwan.
More often than not, the left-handed Chanderpaul is a steady accumulator but there are times when the mood takes him and the occasion demands that he can destroy bowling as clinically as anyone.
So it was in yesterday's scintillating 92 from 75 balls, with two sixes and 10 fours, compiled as opener, one of the several positions in which he has batted in the abbreviated game.
Sarwan, his fellow Guyanese, was the ideal foil, right-handed and adept at turning over the strike. When Chanderpaul was caught behind off the third ball of the admirable Shaun Pollock's second spell, Sarwan gave captain Brian Lara the same support in a finishing flurry of 100 from the last 75 balls.
Sarwan was 77 when Lara struck the boundary to fine-leg to complete the satisfying win.
The captain, unbeaten 59 from 37 balls with a six and six fours, would have taken greater personal satisfaction from the overdue success than most for his second tour of South Africa at the helm has proved almost as desperate as the first. Chris Gayle (26 from 22 balls with two sixes) and Ricardo Powell (a composed, run-a-ball 34 to follow his equally impressive 50 in the previous match) also played their parts.
Long before the end, as Sarwan and Lara took charge, diehard South Africans, who packed the ground to its 17,500 capacity anticipating the usual result, were streaming out of the ground by the hundreds. When South Africa amassed 297 for four, their expectations were not misplaced.
The total was inevitably centred on another dominant innings by Jacques Kallis, who was five short of his sixth hundred against the West Indies for the season at the end, and his unbeaten stand of 107 from 93 balls with the left-hander Lance Klusener whose 41 from 39 balls gave the crowd a little of what they expected from the player they call "Zulu".
South Africa were aided and abetted by West Indies bowlers who returned to their errant ways after their strict discipline of the second match when they kept South Africa to 179 for seven from their 50 overs.
They now yielded three and a half extra overs and 27 unearned runs through 12 no-balls (inexcusably six by Ryan Hurley and two by Chris Gayle, the off-spinners) and 15 wides.
The situation was compounded by fielders who gave away at least 20 runs, most towards the end when Kallis and Klusener took 50 off the last five overs.
The pattern for the batsmen's day was set by the first ball of the match.
It was Merv Dillon's half-volley on leg-stump to Graeme Smith and the South African captain, celebrating his 23rd birthday, gratefully accepted the present by dispatching it to the boundary.
He shared an opening partnership of 53 with Herschelle Gibbs and another of 55 with Kallis before Gayle beat him with clever flight to clip the top of his leg-stump.
When Gayle's spectacular left-handed catch at point ended the pinch-hitting left-hander Robin Peterson's 36 in Ravi Rampaul's first over, South Africa were 123 for three in the 24th over.
Kallis was not long in but, once settled, he again tormented the bowlers with the power of his strokes and his placement, sharing and dominating stands of 66 with Boeta Dippenaar and, finally, Klusener.
Kallis clubbed Gayle and Hurley for sixes and had seven fours but could not complete three figures in a tight final over from Collymore, again the best of the West Indies bowlers in spite of Klusener's late six and four off consecutive balls.
Victory seemed beyond a team routed for 54 in the first match of the series just a week earlier, dismissed for 163 in losing the second by 16 runs and confined to 147 for eight from 40 overs before the rain cut short the third.
The primary difference was the pitch, a batting delight that produced 597 runs for seven wickets from the 95 overs.
It contrasted markedly with those in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban on which seam and swing bowlers made the ball do as they pleased. It was the batsmen's turn to enjoy themselves.
Another change was the demeanour of the West Indies top order. They were culpable in the two earlier defeats and were clearly intent on paying back the debt.
The sheer weight of South Africa's total dictated the approach from the start.
Gayle, whose diffidence in the preceding three matches was completely out of character, reverted to type.
He hoisted Andre Nel into the stands at long-off for six, cut him over third man for another and had a couple of fours when he tamely hit Shaun Pollock into cover's lap.
Chanderpaul went past 4,000 ODI runs with three fours in an over from Nel, and affirmed his mood with an extraordinary six off a short one from Klusener, helped on its way into the stand at fine-leg.
Powell mixed five fours of high quality and explosive power with measured singles before Kallis passed outside his bat with a change-of-pace off-cutter that took out the off-stump.
At 92 for two in the 14th over, the West Indies were well ahead of the pace.
Chanderpaul and Sarwan ensured it never slackened, the former playing certainly in all directions, the latter exploiting his favourite cuts, square and fine, to best advantage.
When Chanderpaul was out in the 31st over at 200, there was still a lot of work to be done with 97 required. Sarwan and Lara did it comfortably.