South Africa handed India a third straight heavy defeat by 80 runs at St. George's Park on Wednesday, winning the five-match one-day cricket series with a game to spare.

Herschelle Gibbs' undefeated 93 helped South Africa post 243 for eight, after which India crumbled all out for 163 in the 39th over.

South Africa won the series 3-0 after the first match was abandoned. The previous wins were by 157 and 106 runs. The last one-dayer is Sunday at Centurion.

Only Irfan Pathan made a reasonable score against South Africa's pace bowlers with 47 not out. Next best was Mahendra Dhoni's 26 off 21 balls. He hit four fours and a six, but it only staved off the inevitable.

Justin Kemp, a destroyer with the bat in the previous match with his maiden one-day international century, took three wickets for 21 runs in a spell that wrapped up the match for the Proteas.

Shaun Pollock took 2-23 in 10 overs, and Makhaya Ntini 2-34 in nine.

Gibbs hit eight fours from 123 balls and put on a 69-run stand with Jacques Kallis (49) for the third wicket. Shaun Pollock hit 37 off 43 balls for the only other score above 30.

Leg-spinner Anil Kumble took 2-42, while Sree Sreesanth had 1-29 off seven overs.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat, but he was trapped leg-before-wicket for a duck by Zaheer Khan off the third ball of the match to continue his poor form. It was Smith's second successive duck in the series, and his third duck in five innings going back to the Champions Trophy.

Loots Bosman was bowled by Sreesanth for 0 to leave the Proteas on 6-2.

Kallis hit nine fours in 62 balls before he edged a ball from Kumble to wicketkeeper Dhoni.

A.B de Villiers reverse-swept Kumble only to be trapped lbw for 13 for South Africa to be 93-4.

Mark Boucher scored 29 off 49 balls before acting India captain Virender Sehwag trapped him lbw, and Kemp slashed a ball from Sachin Tendulkar to Sehwag off the first ball he faced.

The teams play a Twenty20 international Friday.

© The Canadian Press, 2007