West Indies batting falls apart in pursuit of 391

The West Indies’s batting fell apart in a horrible hour before lunch leaving South Africa on the brink of sealing a Test series win on Saturday afternoon. 

The West Indies showed all the firmness of a piece of rice paper, as they disintegrated going into lunch on 34/6, while in pursuit of a target of 391. 

Kagiso Rabada struck twice in his sixth over removing West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Raymon Reifer to start the rot. 

Brathwaite was trapped  lbw for 18, after getting into an awful tangle outside his off stump. It was the fourth time in the series that the Proteas pace ace has dismissed Brathwaite, who has had a poor run, with Saturday’s innings his highest of the series. 

Off-spinner Simon Harmer who’d opened the bowling and was getting the ball to spin sharply and occasionally burst through the top of a very dry surface, causing the West Indies all manner of strife. 

The first of his two wickets came, when Tagenarine Chanderpaul got a thin outside edge to a ball that then deflected off wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen’s glove, with Dean Elgar showing good reflexes to hold onto the catch at slip.

Chanderpaul faced 36 balls for his two runs, an indication of just how difficult batting was for the West Indies. 

Keshav Maharaj, brought on to replace Rabada, at the Corlett Drive End, then breached Roston Chase’s defence with one that spun past the bat and struck middle stump. 

Harmer picked up his second wicket, which was really gifted to him by Jermain Blackwood who played a dreadful executed slog-sweep giving Temba Bavuma an easy catch at midwicket. 

Maharaj then took his second, but it came at painful cost. After the Proteas referred and lbw call to the TV umpire, which went in their favour leading to the end of Kyle Mayers for seven, Maharaj set off to celebrate, but pulled up immediately with what appeared to be an achilles heel injury.

It was severe enough that he had to be taken off the field on a stretcher and immediately put into an ambulance. 

That left South Africa with just three front-line bowlers, after Wiaan Mulder was ruled out of the first session with a bruised hand. He had left the ground to consult a specialist.  

Earlier, the Proteas resumed on 287/7, adding 34 runs in 36 minutes before they were bowled out for 321, leaving the West Indies to chase a target of 391. Bavuma was furious at himself, adding just one run to his overnight score before pulling Jason Holder to Kemar Roach on the square leg boundary. While Bavuma will curse, missing the opportunity to get a double hundred — which he made no bones about targeting on Friday evening — his contribution was significant nonetheless. His 172, saw him occupy the crease for 376 minutes, face 280 balls and hit 20 fours and turn the course of the match his side’s way. 

After Maharaj had mistimed a pull to Gudakesh Motie fielding at deep backward square leg to be dismissed for 10, Rabada and Gerald Coetzee engaged in some agricultural hitting to take the total past 300. Rabada, who bashed a couple of sixes in his innings of 16 was caught and bowled by Holder after top edging another slog.

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