Gros Islet – West Indies started strongly, but left-handers Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock stroked half-centuries to lead a fight-back for South Africa in the second Test in St Lucia.
The Windies grabbed three wickets in the first hour, but Elgar gathered 77 and de Kock was not out on 59, and the South Africans reached 218 for four in their first innings at the close on the rain-marred, first day of the Test at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
The Caribbean side reduced the Proteas to 44 for three at lunch, but Elgar, the visitors’ captain, shared successive half-century stands with Kyle Verraynne and de Kock to stabilise his side throughout the second half of the day.
Pacer Shannon Gabriel came back into the West Indies line-up for burly off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall and has been the home team’s most successful bowler with two for 47 from 12 overs.
Gabriel gave the hosts an early breakthrough, when he had opener Aiden Markram caught at backward point for a third-ball duck, cutting at a short, wide, rising ball in the second over of the day.
There was a 15-minute delay to the start because of rain and the weather intervened after 20 minutes with South Africa on four for one in the fourth over.
The players returned after 12 minutes, and West Indies had further success, when Keegan Petersen was caught at second slip off Jayden Seales for seven, edging a loose, flat-footed drive.
More success came when Kemar Roach bowled Rassie van der Dussen for four, the batsman offering no stroke to a delivery moving back from outside the off stump.
But for close to two hours either side of lunch, the Windies failed to make further headway, after Elgar and Verreynne dropped anchor and put on 87 for the fourth wicket.
Gabriel again lifted the spirits of West Indies, when he had Verreynne caught behind for 27 in the final over before South Africa reached tea on 124 for four.
Before his intervention, the closest the Windies had come to making the breakthrough was when they unsuccessfully reviewed a not-out decision from umpire Gregory Brathwaite, after appealing for Verreynne lbw, on eight, to Kyle Mayers in the pacer’s first over.
Gabriel was erratic in his two spells during the session, and watched Elgar reach his 50 from 146 balls off his bowling, when the left-handed opener top-edged a short, rising ball to third-man boundary for his sixth four.
But the Windies strike bowler defied his struggles for rhythm and accuracy, and had Verreynne caught down the leg-side, top-edging a hook at a short, wayward delivery, a dismissal confirmed after the batsman reviewed umpire Joel Wilson’s decision.
After tea, de Kock, a century-maker in the first Test, joined Elgar and they gathered run with consummate ease, adding 79 for the fifth wicket in quick time, as the West Indies bowlers grew tired, and captain Kraigg Brathwaite used himself and fellow part-time off-spinner Roston Chase to catch up on the over rate.
Mayers ended their stand, when he bowled Elgar with a delivery that moved back in the final hour before de Kock edged him through slips for his fifth boundary to reach 50 from 89 balls.
West Indies trail 0-1 in the two-Test series, after they crashed to an innings and 63 runs defeat inside three days in the first Test, which ended last Saturday at the same venue.
Though the Vivian Richards Trophy, symbol of Test supremacy between the two sides, is destined to return to Johannesburg, West Indies will be aiming to square the series and avoid their first series defeat of the year.
Summarised scores:
South Africa 218 for four (Dean Elgar 77, Quinton de Kock 59 not out, Kyle Verreynne 27; Shannon Gabriel 2-47) vs West Indies.
(AR)
