Windies on back foot against South Africa
published:
Friday | January 11, 2008
West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (centre) watches his shot as South Africa's Jacques Kallis (right) prepares to take the catch and teammate Graeme Smith looks on during the first day of the third and final Test match at Kingsmead, yesterday. - AP
DURBAN, South Africa (AP):
SOUTH AFRICA captain Graeme Smith hit an undefeated 122 by stumps yesterday to lead his team to 213 for one after bowling the West Indies out for 139 on day one of the third Test.
The South Africans had a 74-run lead when bad light stopped play at Kingsmead Stadium.
It was Smith's 13 Test century, and his sixth against the West Indies. He hit 23 fours in 133 balls as the West Indies bowlers battled with line and length to him.
He put on an unbeaten second-wicket stand of 160 with Hashim Amla, who had 55 at the close.
Amla was able to play himself in carefully with Smith scoring so quickly at the other end, and he faced 103 balls and hit eight fours.
RIGHT DECISION
Smith put on 53 for the first wicket with Herschelle Gibbs in less than nine overs before Gibbs was bowled by Fidel Edwards for 27 off 22 balls.
Smith won the toss and sent the West Indies in to bat, which proved to be the right decision with both teams pressing for a win with the three-Test series tied at 1-1.
The West Indies batsmen crumbled to 100 for seven at lunch as South Africa's pace bowlers revelled in the overcast conditions and on a slightly damp pitch.
The South African bowlers finished off the innings just half an hour after lunch, with Andre Nel taking two wickets in the 35th over.
Nel was expensive, but removed Darren Sammy for 28 and Edwards for 0 to finish with 3-45.
The best South African bowler was Shaun Pollock, who took 4-35 in 11 overs on his return to the Test side in place of left-arm orthodox spinner Paul Harris.
Catch at gully
At the start of the West Indies innings, Dale Steyn got two edges in a row from the opening batsmen, as Brenton Parchment was dropped by Jacques Kallis at second slip and Darren Ganga was caught at first slip by Smith for three off the next ball.
Pollock then trapped Runako Morton leg before wicket for one and had Parchment superbly caught by Gibbs at gully for 11.
Pollock then got a ball to lift sharply on stand-in captain Dwayne Bravo (13) and Gibbs took another catch at gully.
Jerome Taylor top-edged a hook from Pollock for a diving Steyn to take a catch at fine leg. He had 25 for his highest Test score.
Makhaya Ntini also got a couple of wickets as Marlon Samuels edged an easy catch to Mark Boucher for six and Shivnarine Chanderpaul was caught by Kallis for 0. Nel got rid of Denesh Ramdin, who had batted aggres-sively for 30 off 25 balls before Gibbs took his third catch at gully
