Jerome Taylor - file

The West Indies have started their end-of-year battle with South Africa on a rather impressive note.

A sparkling bowling display by Jamaican Jerome Taylor lifted the Caribbean team to a five-wicket win over the hosts in a Twenty20 match reduced to 13 overs because of rain.

Taylor and his fellow pacers, Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards, made full use of a helpful pitch to send the South Africans reeling to 58 for eight off their 13 overs and then reached 60 for five in just 9.5 overs.

The win must have been a real morale-booster for a team which many believe will be too fragile to offer any worthwhile competition in the important matches ahead.

Taylor bowled very well, and bagged three wickets in his very first over to destroy the South African top order. He has improved by leaps and bounds in the past 18 months and has established himself as the spearhead of the West Indies attack. The South African batsmen were obviously surprised by his accuracy and clever change of pace. With the first Test, starting on Boxing Day, to be played at the same venue, Taylor will be hoping to maintain his very good form until then.

Fully acclimatised

While the bowlers performed well and the fielding was very good, the West Indies may be a bit concerned about their batting, and should use the current four-day match to get fully acclimatised to the conditions in southern Africa.

Acting captain Dwayne Bravo has already pointed to the pace of Dale Steyn, the 24-year-old pace dynamo. After some unimpressive bowling by Makhaya Ntini and stand-in captain Shaun Pollock, Steyn came on and caused a great deal of problems for the West Indian batsmen. He bagged four wickets for nine runs in his three overs with all the batsmen being clean bowled, three with yorkers.

The looks on the faces of the batsmen, especially Bravo, told the full story. In a Test match with fewer controls on field placings, Steyn who had match figures of 10 for 91 in his last Test against New Zealand will be a real handful.

"I think we have to watch Dale Steyn and watch him very closely, and he is their trump card and from what we saw he's quick through the air and can be deadly," Bravo said in a Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) report yesterday.

He added: "We have seen some footage of his bowling and we had a good idea of what to look for, but actually getting out there and facing him is always a different ball game. We will go back and watch him again and plan how best to deal with him."

In Sunday's match the West Indies openers, especially Brenton Parchment, denied themselves a chance to have a good, long look at the South African bowlers on a pitch on which the first Test will be played. It is true that making an early statement will help to lift confidence, but more could have been gained by staying at the wicket and getting used to the bounce and pace of the pitch. Parchment, for example, took ten runs off Pollock and still lost his wicket in the same over.

The West Indies are still looking for a partner for Chris Gayle at the top of the order and he should be using every opportunity given to impress the tour selectors so that he can claim that spot ahead of others like Devon Smith and Daren Ganga.