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The West Indies's three months of suffering finally and mercifully came to an end here yesterday but, inevitably, there was still a little more pain to endure.

South Africa completed their eleventh victory in the 12 matches between the two this disastrous season, winning the seventh and final One-day International by the comfortable margin of 50 runs, accumulating 226 for eight from their 50 overs and dismissing the West Indies for 176 from 44.5. It secured the ODI series 6-1 to follow the 5-0 whitewash in the Tests.

The West Indies had been waiting for a long time for this moment of blessed relief, when they would no longer have to summon whatever little energy and spirit they had to confront their unforgiving opponents.

Had there been a cricketing Dr Jack Kevorkian, he would have long since administered the lethal injection to end their prolonged anguish and not a West Indian would have objected. But they had to endure to the bitter end.

The inquest has already started and will become more intense in the coming weeks. Any cricketing autopsy would certainly find a weak heart, a confused brain and a broken spirit.

Nor was there was any funeral dirge to accompany the final rites. Throughout the day, the stadium speakers boomed with the upbeat music of triumph for a capacity crowd of 18,000 delighting in the performance of their super-fit, super-fast, super-confident, superior team.

To the end, there were blips on the West Indian life-support system that indicated there was just a flicker of resistance still remaining before it was finally silenced by a ridiculous run-out that aptly reflected the seriousness of the team's malaise.

The snippets of hope were provided by Reon King, Nixon McLean, Junior Murray and the lower-order batting. But there was nothing more.

King, as he has done throughout the series, bowled superbly on a bouncy pitch for his two wickets for 30 from 10 consecutive overs at the start after Hansie Cronje had won the toss for the seventh straight time and batted.

McLean, genuinely fast, was also impressive in his 10 overs after Carl Hooper had three overs with the new ball and Murray hit with clean power in 57 off 64 balls while all the big guns, including the returning Brian Lara, tumbled around him.

Otherwise, their condition remained as wretched as it has been throughout the tour The ground fielding was abysmal, especially compared to that of their brilliant opponents. There were straightforward misses, repeated fumbling, limp and inaccurate throwing and some players, old beyond their years, who could not bend enough to intercept balls that passed close by. The cost in runs would have been close to the final margin of defeat.

They were 16 additional balls and runs through six wides and 10 no-balls, seven of them unforgivably delivered by the spinners, Carl Hooper three, two in the last over of the innings, and Rawl Lewis two.

The very day that Curtly Ambrose was most needed, on a pitch that was an early Valentine's present from groundsman to fast bowlers, he could not bring himself to play. It left King and McLean as the only two capable of fully exploting it, further exposing the selectors' astonishing decision to omit Merv Dillon from the squad.

The upshot was that Lara, back for the first time since his wrist injury in the third match, had to rely on his slow bowlers once he had bowled both King and McLean right through their allocations by the 26th over.

By then, South Africa had lost the left-handed opener Mike Rindel and Herschelle Gibbs to the lively King and Daryl Cullinan, bowled off-stump by a fast off-cutter, and Hansie Cronje to McLean. But they were mounting the customary recovery through Man-of-the-Match Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes at 99 for four.

They eventually added 98 from 19.3 overs, a partnership that featured one remarkable stroke, a full-blooded reverse sweep by Rhodes off the bemused Lewis that sailed high into the packed, sun-baked crowd on the grass embankment.

Lewis, Hooper and Keith Arthurton did well to contain the scoring to 75 off the last 15 overs for the return of four wickets but a target of 227 was still daunting for a team that had reached there only once in the previous six matches.

Arthurton accounted for Rhodes (41 from 59 balls) with a sharp return catch, Lewis removed Kallis for 66 (94 balls, five fours) to his first delivery from round the wicket six runs later, Mark Boucher ran himself out second ball and Arthurton bowled Shaun Pollock with a faster ball before Lance Klusener and Pat Symcox added 36 off the last five overs.

The West Indies needed significant contributions from their main men to be able to return home with a little consolation to show. There were none.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in the second over, and Hooper, in the eighth, fell to the brisk outswing of Kallis and Lara and Arthurton, third ball, went once Kallis gave way to Klusener, later named Man-of-the -Series.

Lara spent 29 balls over nine, just eluded Allan Donald's predictable first ball bouncer before hooking him for his only boundary and then pulled Klusener fiercely but straight towards Kallis's swallow pipe at square-leg. For the fourth time on tour, the stroke brought his downfall.

Only Murray's rumbustious strokeplay that included a six over midwicket off Klusener and five fours kept the faint West Indian heartbeat ticking. When he top-edged Cronje's second ball to long-leg and Ridley Jacobs followed suit in identical manner two overs later, a swift end seemed certain. Floyd Reifer (22 off 27 balls with a six over long-off off Cronje and five fours), Keith Semple (23 off 56 balls including a long six off Pat Symcox's off-spin), Rawl Lewis (whose 12 featured a satisfying hook for six off Donald) and McLean (23 off 14 balls with two massive sixes) kept it going for another 18.2 overs and 81 runs.

But it was always a forlorn chase. The illness that first manifested itself in a London hotel back in early November and became progressively worse was always going to be terminal.