Windies join Aussies

Gayle smashed 133 not out as the Carribean side powered into their third Champions Trophy final by a six-wicket margin.

The 27-year-old Jamaican and fellow left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul put on 154 runs before the latter retired hurt with cramp, a large enough total to allow subsequent batsmen a virtual stroll to victory as the Windies chased South Africa's 258 for eight.

Gayle's century was his second in succession and third overall in the tournament. He stroked 17 fours and hit three sixes opposite Chanderpaul and his replacement Ramnaresh Sarwan, reaching 196 for the first wicket.

Herschelle Gibbs top-scored with 77 for South Africa after skipper Graeme Smith elected to bat. Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor each took two wickets as they were dismissed for a respectable total.

However, their opponents made easy work of it as the Proteas' bowlers laboured without success for wickets themselves.

After the fall of Sarwan LBW to Makhaya Ntini, Bravo was run out for 15 after an attempted off drive came off his pad and he failed to recover before Smith found the stumps from first slip.

Brian Lara, on 999 international fours, came in and settled for a few singles before a divine late cut beat the slips and raced to the boundary.

Number 1000 came as a relief to Lara, who came in to bat in the last match against England and swung a few wild strokes before being easily dismissed by a Sajid Mahmood slow ball.

The captain was caught and bowled on nine soon after and Runako Morton was then sent back to the pavilion for a duck, but Gayle smashed home the winning runs before new batsman Samuels had a chance to get on the scorecard.

The West Indies will play world champions Australia in the final in Mumbai on Sunday.