Bridgetown, Barbados – After an absorbing day of Test cricket, unfortunately witnessed by a small gathering of spectators, the South Africans held the advantage with a first innings lead of 59, having reached 285 for 6 by the end of day two of the final Digicel Test at the Kensington Oval.
The West Indies – who made 231 all out on the opening day – never allowed the Proteas to cut loose and even had them in strife at 145 for 5 by the 47th over. It required a resolute sixth wicket partnership of 134 between AB de Villiers – who scored a painstaking 73 – and Ashwell Prince – 55 not out – to push the South Africans into a position of clear but not unassailable advantage.
Having commenced day two on 46 for 2, the South Africans lost nightwatchman, Paul Harris (11), to a sharp catch at first slip by Chris Gayle.
That dismissal left the score on 60 for 3 and marked
debutant pacer, Brandon Bess’, first Test wicket.
There was another dismissal before lunch as Graeme Smith – 35 not out overnight – added another 35 runs to reach 70 before he edged a Sulieman Benn delivery onto his pads and the ball popped to Dale Richards at forward short leg who accepted with glee.
Smith faced 115 deliveries and struck nine fours – preferring powerful pulls and thumping drives.
When the captain was dismissed, the South Africans were 122 for 4 in the 39th over but they had the services of Jacques Kallis – their premier batsman.
Kallis steadily progressed to 43 by lunch (taken at 145 for 4) but immediately, after the meal interval, he was bowled by Benn who went to bed with figures of 4 for 59 from 31 overs of probing left arm spin.
Kallis faced 86 deliveries and struck four fours but his departure left the South Africans in a vulnerable position of 145 for 5.
De Villiers and Prince then came together and meticulously rectified the situation as they took little risk and manipulated the strike while recording occasional boundaries.
The partnership lasted for 53.1 overs and moved the scored to 279 when de Villiers was caught behind by Denesh Ramdin off Benn after negotiating 189 deliveries over four hours at the crease.
Prince was even less adventurous than the usually aggressive de Villiers who had to curb his natural aggressive instinct to dig his team out of the troublesome position. While the right handed de Villiers counted half a dozen fours, Prince only reached the ropes on three occasions.
The pair made measured progress and took tea at 203/5 with de Villiers on 42 and Prince on 31 as they kept the West Indian attack at bay and played watchfully and respectfully to the left arm spin of Benn who probed away for most of the day.
While de Villiers’ innings was circumspect, it was not without moments of nervousness. When on 8 and 42, he benefitted from two strange decisions by the West Indies captain Gayle not to utilize the Umpire Decision Review System. First, de Villiers seemed to have edged a Bess delivery through to Ramdin and the vociferous appeal was nullified by Umpire, Steve Davis.
Television replays showed that the ball had in fact made contact with the bat but it was of no consequence as the home team opted to proceed without the intervention of technology.
Benn – who toiled and toiled all day long – then struck de Villiers on the pad later on and the umpire once again offered a not out verdict – but after much deliberation the Windies refused to refer the decision to the third umpire.
Again television replays suggested that, had they done so, de Villiers would have been on his way.
Instead, de Villiers kept on going until late in the day when he lapsed for a moment and it resulted in his downfall. By that time, the Windies had already relinquished the first innings lead and appeared to be on the brink of being demoralized in the field.
They need another four wickets before they can bat again and, after a mediocre effort in the first innings, they will need to improve their effort to make a contest of it. Failure to so do can result in a
South African win which will put them 2-0, sealing the Digicel Series after a win in the First Digicel Test in Trinidad and a draw in the Second Digicel Test in St Kitts.
