SA become fools as Jacobs
steals century

Paul Martin

The South Africans have been left looking like April fools. Bring out the town crier. "Hear Ye, hear ye! Let it be recorded that, on the crucial fourth day of the third Test against the West Indians at the Kensington Oval, Barbados, the once ferocious and ultra-competitive South African cricket team did make one of the most monumental blunders in modern cricket history. Hear ye, hear ye!"

Let us set the scene. No West Indian has yet scored a Test century against the Proteas. The Windies' record is played eight, won one, lost six, drawn one. Enter Ridley Jacobs, a wicket-keeper who has taken centre-stage in the Windies team rather late in life. In the previous Test he reached 93 before running out of partners.

Now, batting after the demise of his captain Carl Hooper (out without adding to his overnight score of 73) he has already rescued the Windies from any prospect of following on and is making massive inroads towards that South African total of 454.

Jacobs smashed a six to stand at 98. History beckons. In comes Makaya Ntini and bowls a fast, lifting ball. Jacobs spars, gets an edge and wicket-keeper Marc Boucher holds an easy catch.

Jacobs looks anxiously back, then drops his head several degrees towards his chest in disappointment. The ball is about to be tossed jubilantly in the air, as is Boucher's wont when.... suddenly, absolutely nothing happens. Yes, nothing happens. Boucher looks towards the umpire but not a sound emanates from his normally very vocal throat.

Neither the bowler nor the slips enquire as to how that was!

The television replays indicate a very clear noise, and some deviation of the ball. It also shows how Jacobs had looked anxiously back, then dropped his head several degrees towards his chest in disappointment. He takes a short pace away from the wicket, apparently turning towards the pavilion.

Then comes a sudden realization that no-one is appealing. There's a fast almost involuntary glance towards umpire or bowler. Then, realizing he must not give the game away, Jacobs quickly turns his head away again.

Both the West Indian and the Australian television commentator confirm there was a noise and a deviation. They are amazed. We are all amazed.

The laws of cricket clearly state that without an appeal to the umpire, no player can be given out. Simple as that. Would the umpire have raised the finger if there had been an appeal? We will probably never know.

Sure enough, next ball Jacobs lashed out at a lifter, and got a top edge. It flew towards deep fine leg. And way over him, for another six, and his century.

It was his maiden Test hundred. Jacobs ended undefeated on 113 off 254 balls, to guide the team to a score just 67 runs short of the South Africans' total.

The South Africans had laboured without Allan Donald all day, after his hamstring strain. Ironically, he had damaged it ducking away from a bouncer in his own starring role with the bat on Day Two, when he'd made 37, his top score in Test cricket, while helping his captain Shaun Pollock to his second Test ton.

In Donald's absence, and with world No. 2 bowler Pollock wicketless, the all-rounder Jacques Kallis put on a tour de force. He captured a career-best 6 for 67 from 36 overs, an astonishing 17 of which were maidens. At one stage in the morning he bowled a spell of six overs, six maidens, no runs, one wicket (Hooper's).

Still the day surely belonged to Jacobs. He had needed just 161 balls to reach his hundred, smashing ten fours and four sixes. At times he had ridden his luck, with century-maker Darryl Cullinan showing consistently bad catching techniques in the slips. He dropped Jacobs off Ntini, then on 56 he moved late and let a snick by Jacobs go right under his hands.

Jacobs and Mervyn Dillon (14) had crucially put on 64 for the seventh wicket and when Jacobs was joined by Dinanath Ramnarine (6), the put on another 37 for the eighth.

From 252-6 the Windies did remarkably well to get past 300 for the fourth time in their five innings of the Test series. Then to get within 13 runs of 400 was a sterling performance.

The match may have appeared heading for either a draw or a possible South African win. But the Windies bowlers had other ideas. They snuffled up three quick wickets (3-32), including one dubious caught-behind (McKenzie the victim). The ship was then steadied by Cullinan and Kallis, two class acts.

By close of the fourth day’s play with the South Africans 119 ahead and seven wickets in hand, there is just a chance that South Africa may set the Windies some sort of target, and hope to skittle them out on a crumbling wicket. After all, the last time they played at the Kensington Oval, in their first ever Test encounter nearly a decade ago, the boot was on the other foot. The Windies knocked down eight South African wickets in a few hours to snatch victory from the looming jaws of defeat.

This match, their ninth Test contest, has had so many bizarre twists that it's hard to believe it'll simply fizzle out. As they keep saying, it's a funny old game, this cricket. Which is why the West Indians still often recall that calypso whose chorus refers to "cricket, lovely cricket.. ."

(Paul Martin is editor-in-chief of Sport Africa and Live Africa Broadcasting, and is the regular correspondent in southern Africa for Rediff.com.)

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st Innings): 454 all out. (Cullinan 136, Pollock 106 n.o.)

West Indies (1st innings):
WW Hinds c Boucher b Kallis 2
CH Gayle c Cullinan b Ntini 40
MN Samuels c McKenzie b Kallis 6
BC Lara c Boje b Kallis 83
RR Sarwan c Gibbs b Ntini 16
CL Hooper c Boucher b Kallis 74
RD Jacobs not out 113
M Dillon b Boje 14
D Ramnarine lbw b Boje 6
CE Cuffy lbw Kallis 4
CA Walsh b Kallis 4
Extras (B4, LB9, NB12) 25
Total (all out, 151 overs, 639 mins) 387
Fall of wickets: 1-37 (Hinds, 16.2 overs), 2-49 (Gayle, 21.4 overs), 3-57 (Samuels, 26.5 overs), 4-102 (Sarwan, 49.1 overs), 5-218 (Lara, 86.3 overs), 6-252 (Hooper, 94.6 overs), 7-316 (Dillon, 115.5 overs), 8-353 (Ramnarine, 133.1 overs), 9-381 (Cuffy, 148.4 overs), 10-387 (Walsh, 150.6 overs).
Bowling:
Donald 14- 7- 30- 0
Pollock 35- 11- 84- 0 (5nb)
Kallis 36- 17- 67- 6 (6nb)
Ntini 28- 7- 93- 2
Boje 28- 7- 67- 2
Klusener 10- 3- 33- 0 (1nb)

South Africa (2nd innings):
HH Gibbs c Sarwan b Hooper 19
G Kirsten c Samuels b Cuffy 0
ND McKenzie c Jacobs b Ramnarine 12
DJ Cullinan not out 12
JH Kallis not out 5
Extras (LB1, NB 3) 4
Total (3 wickets, 36 overs) 52
To Bat: MV Boucher, SM Pollock, L Klusener, N Boje, AA Donald, M Ntini.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Kirsten, 1.4 overs), 2-31 (Gibbs, 13.6 overs), 3-36 (McKenzie, 16.3 overs).
Bowling:
Walsh 6- 1- 12- 0
Cuffy 5- 2- 11- 1 (1nb)
Hooper 13- 6- 11- 1
Dillon 2- 0- 7- 0 (2nb)
Ramnarine 10- 5- 10- 1