da betway： South Africa lost their last six wickets for 58 runs to earn a meagrelead of just 28 runs, despite Gary Kirsten’s 150, as the first Test betweenthe West Indies and South Africa at the Bourda entered the final two daysbalanced on a knife edge
MWP11-Mar-2001South Africa lost their last six wickets for 58 runs to earn a meagrelead of just 28 runs, despite Gary Kirsten’s 150, as the first Test betweenthe West Indies and South Africa at the Bourda entered the final two daysbalanced on a knife edge.The West Indies made light work of erasing the deficit on an increasingly uneven pitch with Chris Gayle blasting his way to a furious 26 not out and Wavell Hinds reaching the close on 13 as the home side closed on 50 without loss, a slender lead of 22 runs.Resuming at 130-1 in reply to the home side’s 304 all out, the tourists continued their meticulous, calculating and efficient accumulation of runsas Carl Hooper urged his troops to stem the tide with tigerish fielding andtight, miserly bowling. It was, ironically but impressively, an invertedmirror image of the Test’s first innings when South Africa engineered asimilar fightback.Kirsten and Jacques Kallis continued their remorseless third wicket stand for most of the morning session until Kallis perished to a rotten piece of umpiring from England’s John Hampshire nine overs before the lunch break.A thick inside edge went undetected and the stand ended at 146 with Kallis on his way, lbw for 50 from 181 balls in exactly four hours.Daryll Cullinan snicked a classic leg spinner from Dinanath Ramnarine toRidley Jacobs shortly before the break and Neil McKenzie’s troublesome startto the tour continued immediately after lunch when a lap-sweep at Ramnarinefailed to make contact and he was bowled around his legs to leave thetourists wobbling at 198-4 having been 171-1.It could have been even worse had a leading edge from Mark Boucher notpopped up and landed impossibly between three fielders but the South African’keeper went on to make his own luck with a brave assault on thebowlers which brought him a half century and repaired the innings with astand of 76 with the unmoveable Kirsten.Finally, however, after seven hours and 26 minutes in the steamingcauldron of the Bourda, weariness led the opener to wave at a wide ball fromCourtney Walsh that bounced unexpectedly and flew from the top edge toJacobs. Kirsten faced 338 balls in total striking 13 boundaries and amemorable, slog-swept six off Ramnarine. His greatest allies however, asalways, were his unflappable temperament, superb fitness and unwaveringconcentration.Lance Klusener also fell to a poor lbw decision although Ed Nicholls hasenjoyed a fine Test so far and it would be unreasonable to expect everyumpire to see every ball that pitches an inch outside leg stump with thenaked eye. The television replay, however, saw it very clearly.Walsh pushed his world record to 496 when he trapped Boucher lbw on theback foot and thereafter it was all Shaun Pollock could do to muster a leadof 28 with the tailenders.Chris Gayle then adopted a dashing, thrilling approach to erasing thedeficit with a series of flashing square drives against Pollock that forcedthe South African captain to withdraw himself from the attack after justthree overs that cost 23 runs.After three days of fierce competition both sides are showing signs ofsagging. The judges’ cards are evenly marked but there is still plenty oftime to land the knockout punch.