South Africa battle for survival

GEORGETOWN: Dispensing with their debonair demeanour of the previous day and opting instead for dour, defensive tactics, South Africa crawled through 63 overs in reaching 85 for two in their second innings after being forced to follow on 355 runs behind the West Indies first innings total on the fourth day of the First Digicel Test yesterday. aving failed miserably to come to terms with the peculiar nature of the Bourda pitch as they slipped to 130 for six on a rain-ruined third day, the tourists’ greater application was too late to prevent them from being dismissed for a paltry 188 just before lunch on sunny fourth morning.

With West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul sending the opposition back in, as was widely anticipated, South Africa made an about-turn and opted for an almost complete defensive mode in the hope of defying the home team for fully five sessions to avoid going behind in the four-match series. heir efforts were somewhat successful as they only lost the wickets of openers AB de Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith. But with Jacques Rudolph living a charmed life in his unbeaten 19 and Jacques Kallis curbing his attacking instincts in scoring just one run in 44 deliveries, the tourists will need more than discipline and dedication to deny the West Indies on a pitch that has become increasingly two-paced. hat they still face a deficit of 270 runs with eight wickets in hand going into the final day seems inconsequential to the pre-series favourites as they have obviously decided to defend their way to safety.      

Chastened by the experience of losing six wickets for 80 runs on Saturday in the first innings, Mark Boucher and Nicky Boje extended their seventh-wicket partnership to 63 an hour into the day when pacer Reon King got the breakthrough, breaching Boje’s defence and hitting the top of his off stump to end his resistance at 34. is demise increased the pressure on Boucher as Makhaya Ntini showed little inclination to defend, hoisting left-arm spinner Ryan Hinds to the midwicket boundary to get off the mark and then swatting the same bowler through the fingers of the leaping Wavell Hinds at mid-off for another four in the same over.

It was hardly surprising therefore, when Daren Powell trapped Ntini LBW for eight in his first over of the day to reduce to South Africa to 169 for eight.  Boucher then perished for 41, the joint topscore of the innings with de Villiers, slashing at a wide delivery from Pedro Collins for Chanderpaul to take the catch at first slip. he new captain, fresh from a double-century in the West Indies’ massive first innings of 543 for five declared, seemed incapable at that stage of doing any wrong as it was also the introduction of the left-arm pacer that brought the immediate success. o top it off, he tossed the ball to Narsingh Deonarine in the midst of some resistance from South Africa’s last-wicket pair and the debutant obliged, Charl Langeveldt slapping a low full-toss from the part-time off-spinner into the hands of Ryan Hinds at short extra-cover to end the innings 20 minutes before the interval. ollins, Powell and King shared the honours in leading the team off the field with three wickets each, but the three pacers would not have been under any illusions that Smith” squad would fold as quickly as 66.5 overs the second time around. Yet they may have been taken aback by the degree to which the captain and de Villiers opted to defend.

Only 40 runs were scraped together in the two hours between lunch and tea although, to their credit, the pair never really looked troubled as they eschewed the cross-batted stroke in repeated preference for a straight defensive bat. As often happens, it took a break in play to interrupt their intense concentration. o the last ball of the first over after tea from King, de Villiers attempted a forcing shot off the back foot and was bowled off the inside edge for 20 to end an opening partnership of 46. A light shower threatened to deny the West Indies valuable time, but as a near-capacity Bourda crowd screamed for play to continue, the umpires waved the covers off after a few minutes and the war of attrition continued.Bourda scoreboard

WEST INDIES vs SOUTH AFRICA
West Indies 1st inns: 543/5 dec
South Africa 1st inns:
(Overnight 130/6)
G Smith c Browne b Collins 2
AB Villiers c Browne b King 41
J Rudolph c R Hinds b Powell 0
J Kallis b Powell 0
H Gibbs LBW b Collins 5
M Boucher c Chanderpaul b Collins 41
A Hall c Collins b King 2
N Boje b King 34
M Ntini LBW b Powell 8
C Langeveldt c R Hinds b Deonarine 10
A Nel not out 6
EXTRAS (LB6, NB31, W2) 39
Total 188
Fall of wickets: 15; 16; 16; 30; 71; 95; 158; 169; 172; 188.
BOWLING: Collins 18-5-39-3 (NB13); Powell 18-2-61-3 (NB5, W2); King 16-2-48-3 (NB11); R Hinds 13-5-29-0; Deonarine 1.5-0-5-1.
South Africa 2nd inns:
AB Villiers b King 20
G Smith b Collins 34
J Rudolph not out 19
J Kallis not out 1
EXTRAS (B5, LB1, NB5) 11
Total for two wickets 85
Fall of wickets: 46; 68.
TO BAT: H Gibbs, M Boucher, A Hall, N Boje, M Ntini, C Langeveldt, A Nel.
BOWLING: Collins 9-6-12-1 (NB1); Powell 12-7-15-0; King 8-0-18-1 (NB4); W Hinds 8-4-4-0; R Hinds 13-6-13-0; Deonarine 12-5-17-0; Chanderpaul 1-1-0-0.