Gayle ravages S/African bowling

CAPE TOWN: Hobbled by a hamstring tear, Chris Gayle blazed an astonishing century to lead a West Indies counter-attack on a memorable second day in the third cricket Test against South Africa yesterday.

The gamble of including him in the final 11, even though he was clearly not fully fit, paid handsome dividends as the big opening batsman smashed 20 fours and a six in reaching his third Test hundred, a sensational, undefeated 112 from 105 balls from two and a half hours of batting. Gayle with the ninth fastest Test century in history propelled the visitors to 178 for one off just 35 overs, in reply to South Africa’s formidable first innings total of 532, when stumps were drawn. Earlier, Mark Boucher also compiled his third Test hundred and second against West Indies, a purposeful 122, in engineering the late-order revival that saw South Africa add 217 runs for the last three wickets after the early dismissal of Shaun Pollock had reduced the home team to 315 for seven.

Gayle resumes on the third morning today with West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan having joined the party with an unbeaten 39, but he and the rest of the Caribbean side will be fully aware that much work is still to be done as the immediate target of saving the follow-on is still 155 runs away. All bowlers on both sides took a hammering on another sun-drenched day at the picturesque Newlands Cricket Stadium with over 16,000 fans witnessing a combined total of 402 runs off 90 overs. But as well as Boucher played with excellent support from Jacques Kallis with 73 and the South African tail-enders, it was Gayle’s merciless assault that will live long in the memory for its raw power, sublime timing and naked arrogance against a team that had come to expect the opposition to fold after brief spurts of resistance.

Having agreed with opening partner Daren Ganga not to scamper any quick singles in light of his injury, Gayle launched into Pollock and Makhaya Ntini from the outset. The pair, so economical and effective for most of the first two Tests, were left bemused by the big left-hander’s audacious strokeplay. He signalled his intention in Ntini’s first over, flicking the fast bowler off his hip over the square-leg fence in a shot that drew gasps of astonishment from spectators, journalists and broadcasters alike. Indeed, they were all left mesmerised by the ruthless manner in which he tore into the bowling. More often than not his drives through the off-side sped through the cordon of fielders before they could react or whizzed over their heads on the way to the boundary.

Refusing to believe that such relentless shot making could be sustained, South African captain Graeme Smith persisted with his faster bowlers, to the batsman’s delight as savage pulls and cuts completed his repertoire of punishing strokes. It was only the belated introduction of left-arm wrist-spinner Paul Adams that presented him with a greater challenge, but by then he had already reached the hundred at a run-a-minute, and was well and truly entrenched. Gayle’s dominance of a 126-run opening partnership was almost absolute, though Ganga played the supporting role to perfection only to perish as he often does, bowled off the inside-edge by Andre Nel for 17 seeking to play a rare attacking shot. Fresh from a hundred in the Second Test at Durban, Sarwan joined in the festive scoring mood, taking the focus off his limping partner in dominating an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 52. The performance was just the tonic West Indies needed to lift them, as they seemed broken and dispirited following South Africa’s lower-order recovery.

The home team’s comeback only came after Fidel Edwards removed Pollock to a catch at the wicket and with the second new ball taken shortly after, the 21-year-old fast bowler seemed in the mood to rip through the remainder of the order when Boucher, on 15, was yorked off a no-ball. Grateful for that reprieve and recognising that he had to make the most of the second chance, the South African vice-captain played with renewed resolve in a partnership with Kallis that produced 146 runs for the eighth wicket, a new record against the West Indies. Resuming his innings after retiring hurt the previous afternoon due to a blow on the right forearm inflicted by Edwards, Kallis showed no ill-effects and was on course for a third hundred in as many Tests when Adam Sanford earned a questionable leg before verdict against him.

Boucher, whose first Test century came against the same opponents five years ago at Centurion, persuaded Ntini to play sensibly through most of a 52-run partnership in which the he reached three figures with a square-drive off Edwards for his 17th boundary after 214 minutes at the crease. Ntini smashed a straight six off Dave Mohammed before falling to the wrist-spinner, while Sanford finished as the leading wicket-taker with four for 132 when he finally ended the innings on the stroke of tea with the dismissal of Nel. The stage seemed set for South Africa to turn the screws on the West Indies again in the final session, but Gayle’s blistering display rocked them back on their heels and breathed life back into a team that seemed dead and buried.