The Proteas have made amends for their abysmal performance in the T20 World Cup. White washing the West Indies in both the T20 and ODI formats will certainly go some way towards taking the team into a new era. New combinations have been tried, the top order have been in blistering form, but as good as The Proteas were in this series the West Indies were woeful. We need to be cautious in celebrating this victory.

Chris Gayle, an individual talent stands head and shoulders above his team. And not just literally. His frustration with his team was exemplified in his blow out with spinner Suleman Benn in Dominca on Monday and Benn's exclusion from the team yesterday ultimately cost the West Indies much-needed variation to their attack. The perennial reliance on Chris Gayle is unhealthy. On the day that Zimbabwe's second defeat of India was celebrated as a victory for the development of the game, the cricketing world should also be concerned at the state of West Indian cricket. World cricket needs a strong West Indian team.

The match yesterday was a close one. A very tense finish saw Tsotsobe hit the winning runs in his maiden international innings but again ill disciplined bowling costed the West Indies. Mark Boucher was included in the team as a replacement for the injured Miller but was curiously not allowed to keep. His catch to dismiss the younger of the Bravo brothers was a memorable one. His innings, less so. It remains to be answered why the selctors opted for Boucher instead of Peterson as a specialist batsman. Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers have starred with the bat in this series giving Graeme Smith time to play himself back into form. JP Duminy's workman-like half century yesterday is also encouraging ahead of the test series.

The West Indies have simply not been good enough.