Roach’s fiery spell provides brief lift

Article by Ezra Stuart

WEST INDIES’ spirits, shattered and sunken by South Africa through the Digicel home series, were lifted briefly by a fearsome spell of fast bowling by Kemar Roach at Kensington Oval but the outcome was still the same.The South Africans won the third Test by seven wickets with a day and two sessions to spare to triumph 2-0 in the three-match series but their captain Graeme Smith and star batsman Jacques Kallis were bruised by a barrage of bouncers by the young Bajan firebrand.Roach struck Smith and Kallis on the helmet with two devilish bouncers, resulting in more controversy at Kensington Oval, yesterday as South Africa, set a mere 47 runs to win the third Test, triumphed before lunch on the fourth day, reaching 49 for three.West Indies had earlier given token resistance when they resumed from 134 for seven, adding only 27 more runs to be all out for 161 to follow their inadequate first innings total of 231, to which South Africa had replied with 346 for a lead of 115 runs.Fast bowler Morne Morkel swiftly wrapped up the innings, taking the last three wickets and leaving Shivnarine Chanderpaul stranded on 71 not out, which spanned five hours and contained seven fours and a six off 179 balls and took him to 8, 969 runs after 126 Tests.The 100-odd die-hard fans, who were admitted free, then witnessed a hostile spell of fast-bowling from Roach, who fired out Smith (10), his opening partner Alviro Petersen (6) and Hashim Amla (25) in taking three for 22.Roach, who celebrates his 22nd birthday today, created a stir when he produced a bouncer with his fourth ball, which Smith missed as he tried to hook and was struck in the throat.With the first ball of his second over, a clearly unsettled Smith got another lifter from Roach but mistimed his pull straight to Chanderpaul at a short mid-wicket.Petersen was then bowled off the inside edge by Roach and three balls later, in the same over, Roach delivered the perfect bouncer to new batsman, Kallis, who turned his face as he tried to get out of the way and the ball crashed onto the peak of his helmet.As Roach followed through, words were exchanged between the two as they eyeballed each other. Chanderpaul quickly pulled Roach away but Kallis came forward and waved his arms at the bowler with the West Indies players gathering around and umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis also intervening.With Roach at his mark for his next over, the umpires had a chat with Gayle but the bowler wasn’t taken off and he proceeded to take a third wicket when Amla slashed a full-length delivery and was neatly caught in the gully by Sulieman Benn.But A.B. deViliers formalised the result with a square-driven four off Roach to hand the Windies their sixth loss in their last eight Tests at a venue where they were once invincible in 27 Tests between 1948 and 1993 and had won 12 straight matches between 1978 and 1993.
SCOREBOARD:
WEST INDIES 1st Innings 231SOUTH AFRICA 1st Innings 346WEST INDIES 2nd Innings (overnight 134-7) *C. Gayle c wk Boucher b Steyn 10D. Richards c Petersen b Steyn 17N. Deonarine c Prince b Steyn 0S. Chanderpaul not out 71B. Nash c Kallis b Botha 12Dwayne Bravo b Harris 2+D. Ramdin c wk Boucher b Botha 1S. Shillingford lbw b Botha 25S. Benn b Morkel 9K. Roach c wk Boucher b Morkel 8B. Bess c Kallis b Morkel 0Extras (b1, lb1, w1, nb3) 6TOTAL (all out – 65.1 overs) 161Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Richards), 2-27 (Deonarine), 3-36 (Gayle), 4-70 (Nash), 5-74 (Bravo), 6-75 (Ramdin), 7-128 (Shillingford), 8-151 (Benn), 9-161 (Roach), 10-161 (Bess).Bowling: Steyn 11-4-36-3, Morkel 14.1-5-33-3, Harris 16-3-34-1, Botha 20-5-46-3 (nb2), Kallis 4-0-10-0 (nb1, w1).SOUTH AFRICA 2nd Innings*G. Smith c Chanderpaul b Roach 10A. Petersen b Roach 6H. Amla c Benn b Roach 25J. Kallis not out 0A.D. deVilliers not out 4Extras (w2, nb2) 4TOTAL (3 wkts – 8.4 overs) 49Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Smith), 2-29 (Petersen), 3-45 (Amla).Did not bat: A. Prince, +M. Boucher, J. Botha, D. Steyn, P. Harris, M. Morkel.Bowling: Roach 4.4-1-22-3 (nb1), Bess 4-0-27-0 (nb1, w2).Result: South Africa won by seven wickets for a 2-0 series triumph.Player Of The Match: Johan BothaPlayer Of The Series: Dale SteynUmpires: Simon Taufel, Steve Davis. TV umpire: Asad Rauf; Reserve: Clyde Duncan.Match referee: Jeff Crowe.