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West Indies vs South Africa: 3rd Test, Day 2

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West Indies vs South Africa: 3rd Test, Day 2
It was AB de Villiers and Ashwell Prince who showed patience and persistence to stop a West Indian fight-back led by Sulieman Benn and made sure they left South Africa in a good position in the final Test.
 
Benn's consistent left-arm off spin had given the West Indies a big boost with the wickets of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who were looking to put on a long partnership. However, De Villiers and Prince continued the good work on a testing pitch which was aided by some luck. They took South Africa in a position from where they can now get a significant lead in the match.
 
The West Indies spinners’ extracted some good turn and bounce from the pitch that had already started to show some signs of breaking up. Captain Chris Gayle kept increasing the pressure with close-in fielders.
 
Smith and Kallis made sure that they kept the runs coming by chipping in with singles and doubles. The two did not panic when pressure was being exerted by the hosts. Sulieman Benn continued with his persisting line and length to create many chances by altering his length. He didn’t allow the batsmen to settle down at all. Benn was finally rewarded when Kallis was given out leg before wicket while trying to sweep.
 
South Africa decided to refer the decision and it was overturned the third umpire. But Benn did not give up and continued to bowl a tight line. Graeme Smith finally fell while trying to play a forward defensive shot and offered a simple catch to forward short leg. The captain scored 70 runs from 115 balls with 9 boundaries. Shortly afterwards, Benn removed Kallis as the ball angled in and did not turn smashing into the off stump. Kallis scored 43 runs from 86 balls with 4 boundaries. At this stage, South Africa was tottering at 145 for 5.
 
This was when de Villiers and Prince joined hands in a crucial partnership. West Indies was in a dangerous mood to pile up the pressure while South Africa looked to sustain it. AB de Villiers and Prince decided they were going to dig in. Both stated fending off balls which were pitched outside the leg stump, and waited as long as they needed for a boundary ball to come along.
 
Sulieman Benn’s marathon spell continued and the tall left-arm spinner kept on probing against the Proteas.
 
West Indies will be ruing the three chances which were squandered. It allowed South Africa to recover as they could have had AB de Villiers twice but Gayle did not go for a third umpire review.
 
When de Villiers was on just 8, he tried to let one go but edged it to the keeper. As the appeal was turned down, Gayle did not bother to take the referral which would have definitely got him the wicket. Later, when the same batsman was on 42, Bress trapped him right in front of the wicket but the umpire did not agree. Once again, if they had gone for the replay, deVilliers would have got his marching orders. Within no time, West Indies missed a run out opportunity when Nash could not connect from point.

The slow but determined partnership between de Villiers and Prince lasted for 53 overs and the pair put on 134 runs in a marathon partnership. De Villiers was finally dismissed before the close of play for 73 runs as he was caught by keeper Ramdin off the bowling of Benn. South Africa ended the day at 285 for 6, leading West Indies by 54 runs.

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