Inspired pace bowling from Alzarri Joseph in a lively half-hour before the close enabled West Indies to creep back into the first Test against South Africa on Wednesday.
After their batting collapsed to skillful, if not palpably menacing fast bowling from Anrich Nortje, the Caribbean side defied an explosive start from opener Aiden Markram and reduced the South Africans to 49 for four in their second innings at the close on the second day at SuperSport Park.
Joseph has so far taken two for 17 from four overs to follow up his maiden Test five-wicket haul and Kemar Roach and Jason Holder each grabbed a wicket, as West Indies strongly finished a day on which 16 wickets fell – all to the pacemen.
The visitors will have their work cut out on Thursday trying to stop the Proteas from building on their current lead of 179, with first innings century-maker Markram unbeaten on 35 that already includes six boundaries.
“We know that we have been in this situation already a few times, so we know what we have to do, and we have the confidence in our bowlers to go out there and get the job done,” West Indies vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood said in a TV interview after play.
“As batsmen, we did not go out there and put the runs on the board that we wanted, but we still have a second innings, and once we can go out there and get the ball in the right areas, I think we can have a bat again (on Thursday).”
The Caribbean side had dismissed South Africa for 342 in their first innings inside the first half-hour of play, but their batting crumbled after tea under the pressure of stifling pace bowling from the hosts and they were bowled out for 212 about 10 minutes before the scheduled close.
Trailing by 130, West Indies had a bright start when Joseph got left-handed opener Dean Elgar caught at third man in his second over for one.
The lanky Antiguan added the scalp of Temba Bavuma caught behind in his next over for a one-ball duck, condemning the South African captain to becoming the fourth player to get a pair on Test captaincy debut after Mark Taylor of Australia, Rashid Latif of Pakistan, and Habibul Bashar of Bangladesh.
Roach survived a bit of rough treatment from Markram and got left-handed Test newcomer Tony de Zorzi caught behind for a one-ball duck, and Holder, bowling from wide on the crease, trapped Keegan Petersen lbw for seven with his first delivery in the final over of the day to claim his 150th Test wicket.
“This pitch is not flat,” Blackwood added. “I think, as a bowler, if you put the ball in the right areas over a period of time, you will reap rewards.
“Our bowlers have learnt that from the first innings – the first few overs they started a bit too short, and they gradually pulled it back – but once generally they bowl in the right areas, they will get the rewards.”
West Indies learnt that lesson the hard way after South Africa resumed from their overnight total of 314 for eight, and Joseph claimed the last two wickets to end with five for 81 from 18.3 overs.
The Caribbean side were reasonably placed at 169 for three about 35 minutes after tea with left-hander Raymon Reifer, whose career-best 62 was the top score, in the midst of anchoring two stabilising partnerships with Blackwood and Roston Chase.
But they imploded, losing seven wickets for 43 in an aimless hour of batting that undermined the resolve shown over the first two sessions, with Nortje destroying the bottom half of the batting to finish with five for 36 from 16 overs – his second best figures in 19 Tests.
West Indies were set back early when pacer Kagiso Rabada bowled their captain Kraigg Brathwaite for 11 with a peach of a delivery that angled into the batsman, then moved away off the pitch, and hit the top of off-stump.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul had just got into the swing of things when he was caught at gully for 22, becoming the first Test wicket for debutant pacer Gerald Coetzee in the final 20 minutes before the Caribbean side reached 71 for two at lunch.
After the interval, dogged batting, exemplified by Reifer and Blackwood in a stand of 64 for the third wicket, carried West Indies comfortably past the 100-run mark before Nortje made his first intervention into play.
Blackwood was caught behind for 37 in the third over of a second spell from the South African speedster when he drove at a yorker length delivery and got an inside edge, a dismissal confirmed after the batsman unsuccessfully reviewed the decision of umpire Marais Erasmus.
The visitors went to tea on 136 for three, and Reifer reached his 50 from 117 balls after the break and had put on 47 with Chase before he was caught behind off beanpole left-arm pacer Marco Jansen.
West Indies were 169 for four, and Reifer’s departure ignited a collapse that started when Chase was caught at first slip for 22 off Rabada before Nortje claimed the next four scalps in three successive overs to end with five wickets in an innings against West Indies for the second time in Tests. (CMC)
