LONDON (AP):

South Africa beat West Indies by 20 runs yesterday to move closer to clinching a spot in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals.

After South Africa had set a challenging target of 183-7 at The Oval, Wayne Parnell took 4-13 and Roelof van der Merwe and Dale Steyn each took two wickets to restrict West Indies to 163-9, with Lendl Simmons making 77.

South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs smashed 55 from 35 balls - including eight fours and a six - while teammates Jacques Kallis hit 45 and Graeme Smith 31 in the Super 8 game.

Jerome Taylor took 3-30 as West Indies belatedly slowed the scoring rate by taking 5-35 in the final five overs.

West Indies must now beat England tomorrow to qualify for the semi-finals.

caught at backward point

West Indies captain Chris Gayle won the toss and asked South Africa to bat first on an excellent pitch with a fast outfield.

Taylor conceded just two runs in his opening over but his next went for 16, including a towering six by Kallis over extra cover.

Dwayne Bravo replaced him at the Vauxhall End and immediately went for 13, but the breakthrough came in the sixth over, when Smith was caught at backward point by Andre Fletcher off Sulieman Benn.

Gibbs joined Kallis and the pair reached 86-1 after 10 overs. But after completing their 50 partnership from 35 balls, Kallis was caught by Kieron Pollard off Lendl Simmons at long on.

Gibbs' dismissal was also soft, caught at midwicket by Taylor off Pollard in the 15th over.

The Proteas still looked set to pass 200, but Taylor pegged them back with two wickets in the 17th over.

A.B. de Villiers went for 17 when he offered a high catch to Gayle at extra cover, and Taylor then bowled Albie Morkel for 10.

J.P. Duminy was out first ball, caught by Ramnaresh Sarwan off Edwards, and Roelof van der Merwe followed, caught by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin after hitting a delivery from Taylor almost 50 metres straight up in the air.

In the final over, Mark Boucher smacked Edwards for six and Johan Botha was dropped as South Africa added 13 runs.

The West Indians made a timid start to their innings, with Fletcher going for zero off the third ball, caught by Botha off Parnell, who then bowled Gayle for 5.

Bravo, the star of Friday's win over India, survived when he was caught by Smith at mid on with the umpire ruling Morkel's delivery - a high, full toss - was a no ball.

With Lendl Simmons, Bravo put on 50 from 30 balls, but he was out for 19 in the ninth over, caught by Dale Steyn at long off off Van der Merwe.

Needing to score more than 10 an over, the West Indies batsmen were under constant pressure to hit boundaries and as a result had to play risky shots.

caught and bowled

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was caught and bowled by Duminy trying to charge down the wicket, and the game was effectively over when Simmons was out to Van der Merwe, caught at long off by De Villiers in the 16th over.

Steyn removed Sarwan next ball, caught at cover by Botha.

Pollard's subsequent dismissal was bizarre. He clearly chipped a delivery from Parnell to Smith but waited around for the televison umpire Rod Tucker to make a decision.

The television screens initially said not out, but only because the wrong button had been pressed.

Pollard belatedly walked off and his replacement, Jerome Taylor, was bowled by Parnell two balls later.

Ramdin was then bowled by Steyn off the last ball of the penultimate over.

Today's games

7:30 a.m: Ireland vs Sri Lanka at Lord's

11:30 a.m: England vs India at Lord's

Tomorrow's games

7:30 a.m: Ireland vs Pakistan at The Oval

11:30 a.m: England vs West Indies at The Oval