South Africa's Skipper Graeme Smith is bowled by West Indies pacer Pedro Collins (out of picture) on yesterday's fourth day of the First Digicel Test at Boarder Oval, Guyana. - Dellmar
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC:
DISPENSING WITH their debonair demeanour of the previous day and opting instead for dour, defensive tactics, South Africa crawled through 63 overs in reaching 85 for two in their second innings yesterday.
They were forced to follow-on 355 runs behind the West Indies first innings total on the fourth day of the First Digicel Test.
Having failed miserably to come to terms with the peculiar nature of the Bourda pitch as they slipped to 130 for six on a rain-ruined third day, the tourists' greater application was too late to prevent them from being dismissed for a paltry 188 just before lunch on sunny fourth morning.
With West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul sending the opposition back in, as was widely anticipated, South Africa made an about-turn and opted for an almost complete defensive mode in the hope of defying the home team for fully five sessions to avoid going behind in the four-match series.
Their efforts were somewhat successful as they only lost the wickets of openers AB de Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith.
MORE THAN DISCIPLINE TO WIN
But with Jacques Rudolph living a charmed life in his unbeaten 19 and Jacques Kallis curbing his attacking instincts in scoring just one run in 44 deliveries, the tourists will need more than discipline and dedication to deny the West Indies on a pitch that has become increasingly two-paced.
Rudolph drove at Deonarine and edged through Devon Smith's fingers at slip while Ryan Hinds' failed to hold on to a sharp chance off his own bowling diving to his right as the left-hander struggled to put away a high full-toss.
That they still face a deficit of 270 runs with eight wickets in hand going into the final day seems inconsequential to the pre-series favourites as they have obviously decided to defend their way to safety.
Chastened by the experience of losing six wickets for 80 runs on Saturday in the first innings, Mark Boucher and Nicky Boje extended their seventh-wicket partnership to 63 an hour into the day when pacer Reon King got the breakthrough, breaching Boje's defence and hitting the top of his off stump to end his resistance at 34.
His demise increased the pressure on Boucher as Makhaya N'tini showed little inclination to defend, hoisting left-arm spinner Ryan Hinds to the midwicket boundary to get off the mark and then swatting the same bowler
through the fingers of the leaping Wavell Hinds at mid-off for another four in the same over.
It was hardly surprising therefore, when Daren Powell trapped N'tini lbw for eight in his first over of the day to reduce South Africa to 169 for eight.
Boucher then perished for 41, the joint topscore of the innings with de Villiers, slashing at a wide delivery from Pedro Collins for Chanderpaul to take the catch at first slip.
Narsingh Deonarine, in the midst of some resistance from South Africa's last-wicket pair, then removed Charl Langeveldt, who slapped a low full-toss from the part-time off-spinner into the hands of Ryan Hinds at short extra-cover to end the innings 20 minutes before the interval.
Collins, Powell and King shared the honours in leading the team off the field with three wickets each, but the three pacers would not have been under any illusions that Smith's squad would fold as quickly as 66.5 overs the second time around.
Yet they may have been taken aback by the degree to which the captain and de Villiers opted to defend.
Only 40 runs were scraped together in the two hours between lunch and tea although, to their credit, the pair never really looked troubled as they eschewed the cross-batted stroke in repeated preference for a straight defensive bat.
SCOREBOARD
WEST INDIES
1st innings 543 for 5 dec. (W. Hinds 213; A.Nel 3-93)
SOUTH AFRICA
1st innings (overnight 130 for 6)
*G. Smith c wkp Browne b Collins 2
A. Villiers c wkp Browne b King 41
J. Rudolph c R. Hinds b Powell 0
J. Kallis b Powell 0
H. Gibbs lbw Collins 5
+M. Boucher c Chanderpaul b Collins 41
A. Hall c Collins b King 2
N. Boje b King 34
M. Ntini lbw b Powell 8
C. Langeveldt c R. Hinds b Deonarine 10
A. Nel not out 6
Extras (lb6, nb31, w2) 39
TOTAL (all out - 66.5 overs) 188
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-16, 3-16, 4-30, 5-71, 6-95, 7-158, 8-169, 9-172.
Bowling Collins 18-5-39-3 (13nb); Powell 18-2-61-3 (5nb, 2w); King 16-2-48-3
(11nb): R. Hinds 13-5-29-0; Deonarine 1.5-0-5-1
SOUTH AFRICA
2nd innings (following on 355 behind)
A. Villiers b King 20
*G. Smith b Collins 34
J. Rudolph not out 19
J. Kallis not out 1
Extras (b5, lb1, nb5) 11
TOTAL (for 2 wickets, 63 overs) 85
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-68
To Bat: H. Gibbs, +M. Boucher, A. Hall, N. Boje, M. Ntini, C. Langeveldt, A.Nel
Bowling Collins 9-6-12-1 (1nb); Powell 12-7-15-0; King 8-0-18-1 (4nb); W.
Hinds 8-4-4-0; R. Hinds 13-6-13-0; Deonarine 12-5-17-0; Chanderpaul 1-1-0-0
Position: South Africa 270 runs behind with eight 2nd innings wickets standing
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and David Shepherd (England)
