Sth. Africa v. West Indies - 4th. Test

[commonwombat]

Stumps 3/263. Still 47 runs behing with both Gayle and Sarwan over 100.

Make something happen?? Well these guys and maybe Smith and Jacobs after them would have to take off tomorrow like they'd doubleparked the team bus outside the ground then Sth Africa would have to commit mass hara-kiri.

Saving the match is viable pending the weather. Would still favour Sth Africa to clean it up weather permitting but all credit to these guys for their fight.

[Donny]

Sarwan and Gayle halt South African charge

The Wisden Bulletin by Andrew Miller

A century apiece for Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle gave West Indies something to smile about at last, as South Africa's bowlers were made to toil on a gloomy fourth day at Centurion.

By the time bad light brought about an early close with the second new ball looming, the pair had added an unbeaten 164 for the fourth wicket to carry their side to within 40 runs of second-innings parity. It might not be enough to stave off defeat tomorrow, but it is sure to be an important fillip with the England series fast approaching.

The outlook had not been too promising when Sarwan and Gayle came together shortly after lunch. Although heavy rain had wiped out all but seven overs of the morning session, West Indies still trailed by 204 runs when Shivnarine Chanderpaul allowed his frustration to get the better of him, and squirted an injudicious carve to Herschelle Gibbs at backward point off the persevering Jacques Kallis.

Kallis had been the one South African bowler to use the overcast conditions to good effect, bowling a full swinging length that at first proved impossible to take liberties against. Sarwan and Chanderpaul were watchful in their defence, happy to camp on the back foot and wait for Andre Nel or Makhaya Ntini to offer them some width.

But Gayle, who had retired hurt following a painful blow in the midriff yesterday evening, was rather less demure in his approach.

Unsurprisingly, Gayle was greeted with a whistling bouncer from Kallis, but he remained in the belligerent mood that had served him so well in his first-innings 77. He smacked Kallis past midwicket before lofting over long-on for a one-bounce four, and Sarwan was emboldened by the rise in tempo. He reached his half-century with a steer to the third-man boundary off Ntini, before taking the attack to Kallis as well, as a pair of cover-drives carried him into the sixties.

When Andrew Hall was forced to limp out of the attack with a leg injury, West Indies' luck seemed to have changed. Sarwan certainly thought so, as he smacked the replacement bowler Graeme Smith for four, while Gayle laid into Nel at the other end, carting him for three fours in his next over.

Finally, after facing 202 balls, Sarwan smashed Ntini through the covers for his 14th four, to bring up his fourth Test century with a scream of triumph. He had barely added to his total when Gayle came hurtling to a hundred of his own, by hoisting Smith over deep midwicket. It was his second century of the series, and though it was scored at a rather more leisurely pace than his 78-ball blitzkrieg in Cape Town, it was no less valuable for that.

The bad light that had been threatening all day eventually closed in with half-an-hour still remaining. But for West Indies, it had been a thoroughly satisfying effort, and one that will have fuelled their confidence, both for tomorrow's play, and the forthcoming one-day series.

[Donny]

It's 7/285.

Sarwan (119) and Gayle (107) couldn't go on with it and Smith fell for a duck. Drakes just went- for 4.

Ntini has 3 and Pollock, 2.

[Donny]

8/317 in the 97th. over as Pollock claims Jacobs for 3.

[Donny]

West Indies slump to defeat

The Wisden Bulletin by Andrew Miller


For much of the day, it seemed that West Indies would be saved by bad weather, but eventually the skies cleared and South Africa cleaned up. Shaun Pollock starred with the ball, taking 4 for 69 as the Windies lost their last seven wickets for 75, before Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs romped to a victory target of 46 inside four overs.

West Indies never recovered from a dreadful start to the day. Play had been delayed by almost two hours when the players finally took the field with eleven overs of the morning still remaining, and West Indies needed just nine of those to lose all three of their remaining frontline batsmen. It was a marked contrast to an excellent fourth day, in which South Africa had managed a solitary breakthrough.

After a minute's silence in memory of David Hookes, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan set about adding to their 164-run fourth-wicket partnership. But Gayle managed to add just a single to his overnight 106, before smearing a wide delivery from Makhaya Ntini to Neil McKenzie in the gully (273 for 4).

Sarwan had opened his account for the day by lifting Shaun Pollock through midwicket for four, but Pollock gained his vengeance three overs later, when he speared one back into Sarwan's pads and sent him on his way for 119. He had equalled his highest Test score, as made against Bangladesh at Dhaka in December 2002, but West Indies had bargained for considerably more.

For Dwayne Smith, however, there was to be no repeat of his matchsaving blitzkrieg at Newlands. He had already been cut in half by his first delivery from Pollock, and was rapped on the pads by Ntini two balls later. Clearly, attack was the only viable response, but unfortunately his booming drive against Ntini found thin air, and his off stump went cartwheeling behind him.

Vasbert Drakes and Ridley Jacobs ensured that there would be no further mishaps before lunch, but Drakes flapped Pollock's fifth ball of the resumption to Gibbs at point, before Pollock struck for a third time as Jacobs was rapped on the pads. Even though South Africa were a bowler short, with Andrew Hall sidelined for up to six weeks with a prolapsed disc, the only sweating they were doing was over the weather conditions.

They were soon forced off the pitch once again, but not before Merv Dillon had walloped 24 not out from 18 balls to stave off the innings defeat. But he was more cautious when play finally resumed, and fell to a limp-batted fend for 29 as Pollock took his career tally to 326 Test wickets – four behind his old partner, Allan Donald.


It was left to the newly-wed Andre Nel to apply an emphatic coup de grace, as Fidel Edwards was bowled neck and crop by an absolute jaffa that went like a fast legbreak and clipped the outside of off stump. He had added 26 for the tenth wicket with Corey Collymore, to give West Indies the merest glimmer of hope.

But a victory target of 46 was small change to Smith and Gibbs, especially when Sarwan gifted them four runs by diving like a poleaxed goalkeeper to palm the ball over the midwicket boundary. Dwayne Smith looked as though he had redeemed the Windies' reputation with a fine leaping catch on the long-on boundary, but unfortunately TV replays proved that he had clipped the rope as he stumbled back on landing. The replays also showed that Dillon had overstepped, so a rough sort of justice was served.

After that, the fight went out of West Indies, and Edwards gifted the victory with a succession of short wide leg-side deliveries that Smith gloved, pulled and missed for four. It was the end of a dispiriting series, and it seems too much to hope that they'll be able to raise their game for the one-day merry-go-round that follows

[couragous cloke]

well wasnt that nice and depressing

ah well, we're a much better ODI team and we should be able to put up a much better fight come sunday and in the future!

GO WINDIES!