West Indies on another go-slow as SA nab two wickets

No-one does old school Test batting quite like the West Indies, who for the second match in a row, engaged in an afternoon go-slow that did nothing for their prospects of winning this Test.

They went to tea on 143/6, a deficit of 177 runs, with former captain Jason Holder on 19 and Joshua da Silva on 15

The tourists scored just 70 runs in 29 overs in the session. South Africa’s bowling was largely disciplined with Keshav Maharaj conceding just 20 runs in 11 overs, while the two wickets that fell were the result of misfortune for Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers eventually succeeding in his attempt to lose his wicket.

Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma started the afternoon session by bowling Wiaan Mulder, who’d taken the new ball in the morning, and Maharaj, neither particularly threatening from a wicket-taking sense, but both doing a containment job.

Maharaj had his hands on his head often as a few bounced and spun, but there was little that really bothered the West Indies batters. Then Chase tried to drive Mulder, but the ball squirted between bat and pad onto his back leg before trickling against the stumps with just enough force to dislodge the off bail.

Chase sunk to his knees, Mulder jumped a metre in the air and South Africa had got a bonus wicket.

Rabada was brought back from the Golf Course End shortly thereafter and it seemed his mere presence was enough to unsettle Mayers, who flashed at everything outside off stump. For 20 minutes it appeared Mayers wanted to get out and he eventually succeeded when he top-edged an attempted drive with his feet stuck on the crease, that saw Dean Elgar hold onto to a sharp catch at first slip.

If the match follows the same trend as the three-day affair last week in Centurion and Wednesday evening’s play when five wickets fell, the West Indies will do well not to be all out this evening. It makes the decision not to be more assertive in the afternoon, when conditions were good for batting, appear a poor one.

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