Proteas on top in final Test

A defiant 81 from Brian Lara wasn't enough to lift the West Indies to a respectable score on the first day of the fifth Test against South Africa on Thursday.

At the close, the home side had tumbled to a disappointing 214 for nine after captain Carl Hooper had won the toss and elected to bat first on a good pitch at Sabina Park.

Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock shared eight wickets as the tourists sought to complete a 3-0 series victory while no home team batsman could muster more than 28 runs in support of Lara.

The day began in the worst possible way for the West Indies when Jamaica's Leon Garrick slashed the first ball of the match from Donald to Pollock to become only the second man to be dismissed by the first ball of a test debut.

Shivnerine Chanderpaul's patient, 50-ball innings of seven ended when he edged Jacques Kallis to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and Donald struck again in his second spell when Chris Gayle (25) cut a wide delivery to Justin Kemp in the gully.

When Gayle was dismissed the home side were reeling on 53 for three at the lunch interval.

Donald collected his third wicket in the first over after the break when Marlon Samuels (3) touched an away swinger to Boucher.

The West Indies then appeared to be on the road to a middle-order recovery as Lara and Hooper added 53 for the fifth wicket batting with calm authority.

However, once Hooper had been dismissed the lower order batsman offered up little resistance to the South African pace attack.

Pollock set two men in the deep for the hook shot, clearly telegraphed the bouncer and Hooper obliged by hooking it straight to Gary Kirsten at deep square leg to depart for an otherwise untroubled 25.

When Ridley Jacobs edged Pollock to Boucher for a six-ball duck Lara opened up in thrilling style with a series of imperious cover drives and pull shots to pass 50 from 111 balls with eight boundaries.

Mervyn Dillon and Lara put on 75 for the eighth wicket, before Lara's obvious sense of responsibility saw him abandon a pull shot against Pollock only to see the ball loop from the top edge to Kallis at slip.

Lara's 81 came from 156 balls with 12 boundaries.

Dillon, who was dropped by Boucher on nought and two and again by Lance Klusener on 23, eventually perished to the second delivery with the second new ball when Donald again found the edge for his fourth wicket.

Cameron Cuffy (3) became Pollock's fourth victim and Boucher's fifth in the penultimate over of the day when a routine edge was caught behind.

Dinanath Ramnarine swung the bat to some effect in the closing overs of the day to finish with an unbeaten 28 while Courtney Walsh raised the loudest cheer of the day from his home crowd by simply surviving, albeit scoreless, until the close of play.

Mail Cricket Editor