Responsible batting by Windies

Paul Martin

The first day had been Calypso cricket -- but the swashbuckling batsmanship we once associated with the West Indies had come from a less likely source -- the South Africans. They had played the game on Day One of the second Test at Port of Spain with the kind of cavalier aggression that would have been more suitable for a one-day match, losing all ten wickets for 286 runs.

The second day the real Calypso kids had their turn -- and, for much of the day at least, they were much more grown-up. The West Indies batted responsibly, mixing aggression with self-preservation. Yet, at the end of the day, the South Africans had established at least an equality, and probably - given the fact that the Windies will have to bat last - a slight advantage. The West Indians, on 250 for seven, trail by 36 runs.

This is a far cry from the supremacy the South Africans displayed at home when they thrashed the Windies in all five Tests. Now there is no dominance, only deadlock.

Opener Chris Gayle, who played so well in the first Innings of the first Test, fell for 10 this time, trapped plumb lbw by a Shaun Pollock in-swinger. But Wavell Hinds cemented his previously shaky place in the team with an excellent half-century, in which he was willing to pull and hook anything short from Pollock or Allan Donald, and usually came out on top. He fell to a dismal decision, though, given out caught by the keeper off Donald when the ball clearly beat the edge. Mind you, the umpires were stingy with the lbws, and near the end of play there was poetic justice when a clear snick by Ridley Jacobs was not seen or heard by umpire.

Anyway, earlier Marlon Samuels had looked good but on 35, the 20-year-old steered a lifting ball from Donald into the hands of Lance Klusener at third slip.

Enter the double world-record-holder and local hero Brian Lara, need I say, to tumultuous applause from his Trinidadian worshippers. He had never scored a Test century in the beautiful mountainous setting of Port of Spain, and, alas, that is still the case. He drove at Makaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis delightedly took the catch at second slip. Dead silence around the ground.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (34) and captain Carl Hooper (53) then played superbly in their fifth wicket stand of 75. Once again, though, the Windies have only flattered to deceive. When a healthy first-innings lead looked near-certain, the had their own mini-collapse in imitation of the South Africans' the day before. When the youngster went, Hooper should have grafted, but instead he was trapped lbw to Donald with the new ball. He had made 53 from 126 balls, and was also perhaps a trifle unlucky to be judged in front. Then came the always cool-headed Ridley Jacobs (26*) in unbroken seventh-wicket partnership with leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine (2*) . They could eke out a first-innings lead early tomorrow, but I doubt if the Windies will have slept easy.

They'll bat last on a wicket that is showing signs of breaking up. Perhaps the most ominous news for them is that Donald appears close to his best - and his four wickets today (one of them very lucky) show that the great man is recovering at last form the series of injuries that have bedevilled him of late.

It is unlikely in their second innings that the South Africans will give their wickets away as easily and rashly as they had on Day One. Perhaps -- in that first innings -- the rashest stroke of all was played by Daryl Cullinan (103). Soon after he had scored his 13th Test century (a South African Test record, overtaking Gary Kirsten), he lashed out at a ball Ramnarine, playing against the leg-spin, and skied a simple catch off the top edge.

Only moments before he had seen Nicky Boje (3) do exactly the same thing - the only difference being who did the catching. South Africa lost four wickets for ten runs in just 19 balls. Captain Shaun Pollock (15 n.o.) tried to farm the bowling at the end, but Allan Donald perished first ball, ducking to a short-pitched attempted bouncer by Nixon McLean that did not take off, but brushed Donald's glove as his bottom hit the ground. Judging form the disgusted look on the ace Protea paceman's face as he trudged back to the pavilion, McLean can expect to have the compliment returned, with interest, when he bats.

Again Pollock was left high and dry as his team's tail, not long ago thought to be the strongest last six in the world, failed to wag.

At one stage the South Africans, on 161 for two, were racing along nicely. Jacques Kallis was much more attacking from the start than in any previous Test innings. He slammed 53 in 79 balls, before falling victim to the most unlikely of wicket-takers - Wavell Hinds.

His new captain Carl Hooper seemed to bring on this bits-and-pieces batting specialist in desperation - or was it an inspired hunch? Anyway Hinds, from his third medium-paced ball in Test cricket, got his first victim, to huge celebration. Kallis pushed a drive uppishly and Hinds bent low in his follow-through to take the superb catch inches from the ground.

Later Hinds also had Marc Boucher lamely caught. The rot had by then already set in.

It had all begun much more conservatively. Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs battled to survive till lunch, despite the fine bowling of Courtney Walsh, in particular. They went in to eat at 61 for 0, but both went within three overs after the interval.

Kirsten (23) uncharacteristically edged a short, widish ball from Nixon McLean to Carl Hooper at second slip and then Gibbs (having scored 34 runs by then, and having ended undefeated on 83 in his second innings in the First Test four days earlier) was beaten by the bounce from Walsh. The ball struck his elbow and, unluckily, went down onto the stumps.

Then came a fast 99-run partnership for the third wicket between Kallis and Cullinan. Kallis's merry innings included a big six when he smashed leg-spinner Ramnarine over the long-off boundary. Cullinan also weighed in against Ramnarine, who conceded 32 runs off his first four overs.

After Kallis fell, the out-of-form Neil McKenzie (9) was suckered by Walsh into becoming the great West Indian world-record-holder's 498th Test victim. McKenzie followed an out-swinging slower ball and steered it to Chris Gayle at second slip.

Lance Klusener showed his intentions by hammering his first ball, from Hinds, to the extra cover boundary. However, not long afterwards Ramnarine's cleverly disguised googly just flicked Klusener's outside edge.

Being dismissed for 286 was a meagre reward for all that South African willow-wielding. But it probably has taught the South Africans to show somewhat more respect for the Windies' bowling line-up when they bat again.

I expect the South Africans to bat through the day and declare after an hour on the final day. This is real Test cricket - nail-biting stuff.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st Innings): 286 (D. Cullinan 103).

West Indies (1st innings):

WW Hinds c Boucher b Donald 56 163 114 12 0
CH Gayle lbw b Pollock 10 35 27 1 0
MN Samuels c Klusener b Donald 35 98 66 4 0
BC Lara c Kallis b Ntini 12 34 39 1 0
RR Sarwan c Cullinan b Donald 34 132 90 4 0
*CL Hooper lbw b Donald 53 166 126 5 0
+RD Jacobs not out 26 70 2 0
NAM McLean c Ntini b Pollock 3 13 10 0 0
D Ramnarine not out 2 11 0 0
Extras (b 5, lb 4, w 3, nb 7) 19
Total (7 wickets, 91 overs) 250
To Bat: M Dillon, CA Walsh.
Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Gayle, 7.5 ov), 2-94 (Samuels, 30.4 ov), 3-118 (Hinds, 36.6 ov), 4-123 (Lara, 42.6 ov), 5-198 (Sarwan, 68.5 ov), 6-235 (Hooper, 84.3 ov), 7-242 (McLean, 87.5 ov).

Bowling:
A. Donald 22-4-67-4 (3w)
S. Pollock 22-8-40-2 (2nb)
M. Ntini 12-2-43-1
J. Kallis 16-9-30-0 (2nb)
N. Boje 12-0-47-0
L. Klusener 7-2-14-0 (3nb)

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