Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sports

IT SEEMS like humble pie is the traditional dish of New Year's. Well, at least that's what the West Indies players are serving up to all us naysayers who thought they'd get a good, old-fashioned whupping in the Test series over in South Africa.

Sure, it's early days in the three-Test series but, at worst, the Windies should leave Port Elizabeth with greater respect from their highly-ranked foes and set the stage for a series perhaps a little tighter than any of us could have imagined.

Freaky things can happen in cricket and South Africa got out of the gates terribly sluggishly after sending the Windies in on a belter of a pitch but there's been a lot to like about this opening performance from Gayle and the Gang. The batsmen played like they actually wanted to stay out in the middle and make some runs for once instead of appearing, as they usually do, like they have a hot date with Miss World.

Skipper Chris set the tone with a blistering 66 which quietened the hype and dulled the fear factor surrounding South African pace demon Dale Steyn.

Shiv Chanderpaul's ton was, well, typical Shiv but Marlon Samuels' table-setting 94 showed a depth of maturity heretofore unseen from the young Jamaican.

And the bits-and-pieces innings from Daren Ganga (33), Runako Morton (33) and Darren Sammy (39) all tallied towards a first innings total of 408 which should send SA skipper Graeme Smith scurrying back to his pitch-reading classes. The real good thing about batting for a long time is that not only do you usually make big scores but you also tire out the opposition and sap their morale. When the Proteas went in to bat they played loose and paid the price against some quick, but also wayward, bowling and, hey presto, before they knew it, they were pretty much out of the contest.

Still, I don't expect South Africa, chronic under-achievers on the big stage, to come out so flat in the final two Tests but they are a flawed side despite their world Test ranking of two.

The batting relies too much on Jacques Kallis to build around and there's a sameness about the pace bowling with Steyn, Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini who all offer a steady diet of a right-arm seam with a hint of swing.

If the Windies continue to play patient cricket, they can exploit the holes in the hosts' line-up and give them one almighty scare in a series that was supposed to be a South African cakewalk.

Keep the cakewalk, I'll gladly eat humble pie. Later ...

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com