Windies fight back as South Africa's grip broken
By Paul Martin in West Indies
The big guns at last fired in unison, and the West Indians blasted their way out of a South African siege. In the first two sessions on Day Three of this absorbing Third Test at the Kensington Oval, Barabados, the Windies were virtually strangled by tight South African line-and-length bowling. They managed to add only 113 runs (having been 7 for 0 overnight), and had lost four wickets.
It would then have been hard to believe that they would put on another 122 runs in the last session for the loss of only one more wicket, and steer themselves to within three runs of the magic 255 that avoids the follow-on.
Who knows what the ladies in the tea-room put in the players’ drinks, but for the final session captain Carl Hooper and megastar Brian Lara came out like men possessed. It seemed they were there to prove the veracity of the late, great doyen of cricket-writers EW Swanton, who once wrote: “Cricket has nothing more exciting than the sight of Lara and Hooper together.”
Thank goodness he didn’t see them together before tea!
The recovery after the break began with a poor opening over by spinner Nicky Boje (his second over of the match), in which Lara smashed for two fours and a single from three successive balls. Even the previously immaculate South African fielding began to fall apart with, horror of horrors, runs given away from overthrows.
Later, Hooper smashed three fours in an over off the previously disciplined paceman Makaya Ntini. And to make matters worse, Alan Donald seemed to damage his hamstring again.
True, both Lara and Hooper had narrow escapes. Hooper skied a swing off the generally unimpressive Boje, but it fell harmlessly as three fielders converged.
Earlier Lara, when he was 21 not out, seemed to have been caught by wicket-keeper Mark Boucher. However the third umpire found some smidgeon of doubt as to whether the ball carried into Boucher’s gloves. The super slow-motion did make one wonder about what in real time looked an open-and-shut case.
The let-off came, frustratingly for the South Africans, the very next ball after the impressive 20-year-old Ramnaresh Sarwan nicked one (according to the clear noise of the television relay), only for the normally reliable International Panel umpire Steve Buckner to snuff out Shaun Pollock's frenzied appeal by simply giving him his hat.
That error made little difference as Sarwan, on 16, fell to Ntini’s first ball of the innings, slashing to Herschelle Gibbs at point. But the refusal of the third umpire to give Lara out could yet prove to have been a turning point of the match. It could also have been the slice of luck that Lara needed to emerge from his big slump.
He and Hooper (scoring his fourth half-century against South Africa in five Test innings) put on a century partnership in two hours and five minutes, off 183 balls. It’s only the second hundred-partnership the West Indies have ever complied against South Africa – mind you, the two countries have only played nine Tests in their history, including this one.
Nearly ten years ago, in the very first five-day contest, and on this same ground, Lara trod on his stumps and was inexplicably given not out. The Windies came back to win the Test with stunning bowling on the last day. In the last big Test innings Lara played on this ground, he guided the Windies to a stunning against-the-odds victory against the Aussies with a magnificent undefeated 153. Was there just a chance that history could be repeating itself?
Er, no. The excitement ended with a rash attempted pull by Lara. It was very clever bowling by the pick of the South African attack, Jacques Kallis, using the second new ball. The delivery was pitched too far outside the off-stump for that sort of cavalier treatment. It flew off the slice to Boje at mid-wicket, who gobbled it gleefully.
At 218 for 5, with the only recognised batsmen left being Hooper and the incoming and in-form Ridley Jacobs, there remained an outside chance that the South Africans could yet force the follow-on (the target being 255).
Jacobs soon edged a ball into a foot-hold. It bizarrely changed direction and headed for the stumps, but fortunately just climbed enough to pass over the bails. Phew! He also nearly got caught in the gully by Lance Klusener off Pollock, who ended the day, unusually, wicketless.
The Windies had weathered the storm. They ended 202 runs behind with five wickets standing.
At tea on Day Three the odds would have heavily favoured a South African win – possibly preceded by a Windies follow-on. Now the odds may just favour a draw - especially with Donald injured. He left the field just as the second new ball was being taken, to be treated for what was described as a “tight hamstring”.
Any Windies prospect of levelling the five-Test series in this match may have evaporated with the magnificent ninth-wicket partnership between Pollock and Donald on Day Two. Donald managed his highest Test score, of 37. Pollock’s 106 not out was his second Test century (the previous one having been scored only a few months back).
Here’s an interesting statistic. Only ten Number Nine batsman have ever scored Test Centuries – and Pollock has notched up two of them!
And here’s another: no West Indian has ever scored a Test century against South Africa. Mr Lara will not enjoy being reminded of that, though Hooper (74 not out) may just be spurred on by this chance to write himself into the history books.
(Paul Martin is editor-in-chief of Sport Africa and Live Africa, and is the regular Southern Africa correspondent for rediff.com)
Scoreboard
West Indies
1st innings
WW Hinds c Boucher b Kallis 2 72 46 0 0
CH Gayle c Cullinan b Ntini 40 97 71 8 0
MN Samuels c McKenzie b Kallis 6 45 33 1 0
BC Lara c Boje b Kallis 83 288 185 13 0
RR Sarwan c Gibbs b Ntini 16 105 67 3 0
*CL Hooper not out 74 142 11 0
+RD Jacobs not out 14 27 2 0
Extras (b 4, lb 5, nb 8) 17
Total (5 wickets, 94 overs) 252
To Bat: D Ramnarine, M Dillon, CA Walsh, CE Cuffy.
FoW: 1-37 (Hinds, 16.2 ov), 2-49 (Gayle, 21.4 ov),
3-57 (Samuels, 26.5 ov), 4-102 (Sarwan, 49.1 ov),
5-218 (Lara, 86.3 ov).
Bowling
Donald 14 7 30 0
Pollock 27 10 65 0 (5nb)
Kallis 21 8 52 3 (3nb)
Ntini 17 6 51 2
Boje 8 1 28 0
Klusener 7 3 17 0
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