Cricket update - South Africa seizes the initiative in the Final Test against West Indies
AB de Villers and Ashwell Prince saved South Africa from an eminent batting collapse as Sulieman Benn removed the top order of South Africa. De Villiers and Prince further consolidated the guest’s position in the test by building a strong partnership. Benn provided the hosts an outside chance by removing Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who earlier provided a strong foundation for a big total. Despite this setback, the duo of de Villers and Prince took South Africa to a stage where they got a decisive lead over West Indians.
The West Indian spinners were instrumental in early success for hosts as they got both bounce and turn at the start of the day. They got early breakthroughs as night-watch-man Paul was removed at the start of the day. However, Kallis and Smith consolidated the South African innings from an overnight score of 46 for 3 with steady supply of singles. Keeping this in mind, the West Indians kept the pressure on the South African duo with display of good and gritty bowling. This was illustrated from bowling of Dwayne Bravo, who bowled four consecutive maidens.
On the other hand, Benn was also impressive with his bowling. He even trapped Kallis, when he was attempting to play a sweep shot but was overturned by third umpire. Nevertheless, his patience and persistence was awarded when he removed Smith, who was caught out on short leg. He then settled scores with Kallis after lunch when he bowled him out. With Kallis gone, South Africans were left stranded with the score at 145 for 5. A first innings total of 231 by West Indies, now saw the game evenly poised.
West Indies were again complacent as they missed the opportunities to further pressurize the visitors through poor fielding and poor judgement. Their conservative mindset cost them dearly as they twice decided not to use their review system on deliveries in which AB de Villiers was clearly out. When de Villers was batting on 8, he was caught by the wicketkeeper as he unsuccessfully tried to leave the ball. The appeal was turned down by the on-field umpire. West Indian skipper had the option to contest the decision by going for a video review but he opted not to. West Indies had another chance after tea when de Villers again was caught LBW by debutant Brandon Bess but the umpire again turned down the appeal. This time the South African batsman was on 42 and could have gone back to pavilion if West Indies had opted for a decision review. West Indian poor fielding was the next big culprit as Brendan Nash missed a golden chance to run out Prince after he misjudged and ran for a single.
After being awarded lifelines by the hosts, South African duo of de Villiers and Prince cautiously developed their strong partnership. Benn kept on attacking with his canny bowling with five fielders around the bat. Prince was repeatedly beaten by Benn through extra bounce where as de Villiers uncertainty was evident through his shaky start. De Villiers coming out of the crease constantly, irrespective of length, to play Benn’s bowling was a clear example of his scratchy reaction to the West Indian bowler. However, with passage of time, they developed confidence and piled a lot of singles. De Villers eventually broke the 135- ball boundary drought by driving Shillingford past mid-off. Both accumulated nominal 58 in post lunch session.
Indisciplined bowling especially from Bess further aggravated the situation for West Indian team. Bess was unable to control his line and length as he delivered seven no-balls. Capitalizing on such bowling, de Villers and Prince further consolidated the innings for their team. They both completed their half centuries in the last session of the day. However, the hosts got consolation at the end of the day when they successfully removed de Villers. Benn was the bowler again as he successfully trapped the South African batsman. Nevertheless, the visitors were able to take lead of 54 runs at the end of 2nd day. With four wickets still remaining for South Africa and three days of play, West Indies can expect further damage to their winning chances in the Test.
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