(CMC) – Alick Athanaze missed scoring his first test century of his career as the West Indies salvaged a draw against South Africa in the opening test match at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, yesterday.
The Dominican left-handed batsman hit 92 as the West Indies, needing 298 for victory, reached 201/5 on the last day of the rain-affected test match.
Alick Athanaze hits 92 and guides the West Indies to draw the opening test match against South Africa.
Athanaze faced 116 balls hitting nine boundaries in his 218-minute stay at the crease, helping the home team recover from a shaky start after they lost Captain Kraigg Brathwaite for a duck in the first over and fellow opener Mikyle Louis for nine, with the score on 18.
Athanaze, playing in his eighth Test match, shared in half-century stands with fellow Dominican Kavem Hodge and all-rounder Jason Holder.
He had earlier added 46 for the third wicket with debutant Keacy Carty, who hit 31 with four boundaries, and 63 with fellow Dominican Hodge, whose score of 29 included four boundaries.
But as he entered the 90’s, Athanaze was caught at backward square leg after Keshav Maharaj (4-88) shortened his length, inducing Athanaze into the sweep shot and top-edged it to Ryan Rickelton, leaving the West Indies at 192/5.
Maharaj was later declared the Man of the Match, bagging 8-164 from his 66.2 overs.
Former captain Jason Holder (31) and Vice-captain Joshua Da Silva then batted out the remaining overs to ensure the game was drawn.
The captains shook hands on a draw in fading light with 6.4 overs of play remaining. A total of 142 overs were lost during the five days of the match.
Earlier, South Africa, with a first innings lead of 124, declared their second innings on 173.3 with Tristan Stubbs hitting his first Test fifty, scoring a quick-fire 68 off 50 balls with six boundaries and two sixes before he was bowled by Kemar Roach, while opener Tony de Zorzi scored 45 off 60 deliveries with four boundaries, caught at the wicket by Da Silva off the left arm spinner, Jomel Warrican, whose two wickets cost 57 runs off nine overs.
Following the game, Brathwaite said he was happy with the batting.
“The guys were quite positive. So proud of the batting unit. We believed we could get those runs. It wasn’t going to be easy. We need to keep going from strength to strength. The pitches are a bit slower in the Caribbean.
“For me, it’s about adjusting when to go slow and when to accelerate. It’s all about belief and planning and bat as per the plan. Alick showed us that today. Hodge was good in England. Alick, his plan was to sweep, and he stuck to it, even though he got out to a sweep,’ Brathwaite added.
South African Temba Bavuma said his team tried “our best to get a result in our favour.
“But the wicket didn’t break up as much as we expected. In the end, it was a good, competitive game of cricket. We went in with an extra batter as a cushion. As batters, we will like to be a bit more ruthless and convert those fifties into hundreds.
“We lost time because of the weather. With the bowling resources we had, we tried our best. Keshav and KG, supported by others. A little bit more time and things could have been different,” he added.
