Day 1: Pollock hits mark amid batting errors
By Geoffrey Dean in Johannesburg
BRIAN LARA talked of the importance of being mentally prepared for the start of this historic series, but some fatally rash shots by his top order ensured that the West Indies would head for a total short of par.
Lacking the pace of old Wanderers pitches, this wicket offered some life early on before flattening out into a belter. While Allan Donald, well rested but short of match practice, began as poorly as he had done in the Edgbaston Test last summer, Shaun Pollock made the all-important indentations into the West Indies innings with a magnificent opening spell of 8-2-19-3. With so much rain here in the last week, there was bound to be some residual moisture in the pitch and Pollock exploited it superbly with straight, probing fast bowling on a perfect length.
Shaun Pollock leads the pace bowling on the first day of the test Clayton Lambert presented his wicket with a risky drive away from his body, but Philo Wallace was beaten by a beauty that came back to uproot his off stump. Lara played two sumptuous shots before being bowled off an inside edge.
That left the West Indies 41 for three in the 12th over, and it would have been 41 for four had Pollock held a difficult return chance from Carl Hooper. Hooper was soon thumping fours through the covers, off front and back foot, tucking into Donald, whose first eight overs cost 50. Unable to locate a consistent length, Donald struggled for rhythm but ran in hard all day and took the wickets of Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose stand of 91 kept the West Indies in the game.
Hooper was handicapped by a strained groin which necessitated a runner and which may prevent him bowling. But he still got himself out with a loose drive that resulted in a fizzing edge to Daryll Cullinan at first slip.
There was no such profligacy from Chanderpaul, who, as ever, hardly came forward, but looked rock solid throughout his 271-minute stay. Cutting and driving the bulk of his 10 boundaries, he passed 50 in Tests for the 18th time, but for the 16th time failed to convert to three figures. Donald had him plumb on the back foot courtesy of rare deviation.
Donald aside, the South African bowlers were characteristically disciplined, none more so than the red-haired debutant, David Terbrugge. His reward for some accurate, full-length fast-medium bowling was the wicket of Stuart Williams, who had played beautifully for his 35 before miscuing an ill-advised pull to mid-on. A subdued Ridley Jacobs, one of six left-handers, fell in identical fashion.
That brought replacement leg-spinner Rawl Lewis to the wicket only eight hours after arriving from the West Indies A tour of India. At least he did not have to bowl, unlike Pakistani Amir Nazir in a Test here four years ago. Nazir touched down at Jan Smuts Airport as the first ball was being delivered and, 90 minutes later, he was turning over his arm in the middle.
West Indies Board president Pat Rousseau received a phone call from Nelson Mandela yesterday apologising for the armed robbery of his wife and respected Jamaican journalist Tony Becca in Soweto on Wednesday.
Day 2: Marshall's record is overtaken by Walsh
By Geoffrey Dean in Johannesburg
A GRIPPING first Test is unfurling after yet another performance of heart, menace and skill from Courtney Walsh, who yesterday became the highest wicket-taker in West Indian Test history.
The indefatigable Jamaican, 36, went past Malcolm Marshall's old record of 376 victims when he dismissed Jacques Kallis, and after bear-hugging Brian Lara and high-fiving the entire side, he gave an emotional thumbs-up to Marshall on the team balcony.
South African batsman Gary Kirsten loses his balance after playing a stroke off the bowling of Courtney Walsh Let it be remembered that Walsh had bowled only 12 overs on the entire tour before yesterday owing to a troublesome ankle. While Curtly Ambrose, similarly short of match practice, was feeling his way back and Nixon McLean initially strove a little too hard for extra pace, Walsh revived his team almost single-handedly. ``I thought I might suffer from lack of work, but I didn't in the end,'' he said.
South Africa were well placed at 102 for one when Walsh struck at the start of his second spell, having removed Adam Bacher in his first with a trademark leg-cutter.
Perhaps he was stirred by the sound of a Trinidadian steel band who, flown in specially for the match, had just started up after finally being permitted to play during overs. When Stuart Williams took a gymnastic catch at second slip to dismiss Kallis, the band's rendition of Rally Round the West Indies went up several decibels.
Daryll Cullinan joined in the party atmosphere by presenting Walsh with his wicket in his next over, casually leg-glancing to be caught behind. John Major, having just missed Walsh's milestone, now took his seat and, when the public address announced his presence, he must have been pleasantly surprised to get as generous an ovation as Walsh.
Not long after, with Walsh being rested and the equally irrepressible band now moving on to It's Carnival Time Again, Gary Kirsten's contrastingly gritty but valuable 62 ended when he dragged on a long hop from McLean.
Batting was not always straightforward on account of some unevenness in a pitch which may have been slightly underprepared following recent rain.
A number of balls bounced twice en route to the wicketkeeper, but it was to a fast breakback from McLean that Jonty Rhodes was plumb lbw. Walsh came back for a third spell to take a 379th Test victim when Shaun Pollock tried to pull a delivery that flicked off the off bail. Pollock had finished off the West Indies innings to claim a sixth five-wicket haul.
Leading West Indians: 379-Courtney Walsh (in 103 Tests); 376-Malcolm Marshall (81); 346-Curtly Ambrose (81); 309-Lance Gibbs (79); 259-Joel Garner (58); 249-Michael Holding (60); 235-Gary Sobers (93); 202-Andy Roberts (47).
World top 4: 434-Kapil Dev; 431-Richard Hadlee; 383-Ian Botham; 379 -Walsh.
Day 3: West Indies edge ahead after Symcox's show of defiance
By Colin Croft in Johannesburg
THE first Test between the West Indies and South Africa is a seesaw. One team seizes the advantage, only for the other to take the upper hand. Rain washed out most of yesterday afternoon's play but a thrilling finish remains on the cards.
South Africa had struck first, reducing the West Indies to 41 for three on the first day before the tourists recovered to 249 for seven.
The rollercoaster continued into the second day. South Africa needed only 28 minutes to remove the remaining West Indian wickets. The West Indies finished on 261, Shaun Pollock taking five for 54.
South Africa survived the first 79 minutes, scoring 53 runs, and lunched for the loss of Adam Bacher, who was caught behind by Ridley Jacobs off Courtney Walsh. Between lunch and tea, South Africa scored 85 runs for the loss of two further wickets. Meanwhile, Walsh had become the highest wicket-taker for the West Indies, with 377 wickets, passing Malcolm Marshall's tally of 376. At tea, South Africa were 138 for three, but that became 217 for six at the close.
South Africa began the third day 44 runs behind the West Indies' first-innings total. The plan for the West Indies would have been to get the last dangerous home batsman, Hanse Cronje, out before too long, then mop up the tailenders.
Yet it was Mark Boucher, the other overnight batsman, who went first. Attempting a sweep from a Rawl Lewis leg-break that bounced a bit in the fourth over of the day, Boucher got a top edge to short backward square-leg, where Brian Lara, running from slip, took a good catch.
Four overs later, but still with the old ball, Cronje played a loose shot outside off stump to a Curtly Ambrose off-cutter, the ball taking an inside edge into the off stump. Cronje, however, had played a good innings for 41 with three fours.
Allan Donald and Pat Symcox put on 13 valuable runs before the new ball was taken in the 86th over of the innings. The impact was immediate. Donald was hit on his bowling hand by Walsh. Ambrose then put Donald out of his misery, courtesy of a good catch, by Jacobs.
David Terbrugge, in his first Test, helped Symcox, courtesy of some curious defensive field placings from Lara, to pass the West Indies' 261. In the end, it was Symcox, on 25, who was run out by Walsh from short mid-wicket, when attempting a rash run. By then, however, he and Tebrugge had added 25 precious runs, giving South Africa a lead of seven.
Clayton Lambert and Philo Wallace had just erased the deficit when rain cut short play.
llock gives South Africa scent of victory
By Geoffrey Dean in Johannesburg
SOUTH AFRICA will need 164 to win this first Test, but many sides have failed in recent years to chase smallish targets on uneven pitches against the West Indies. South Africa will be uncomfortably aware of their defeat in the only previous Test they have played against the West Indies - in Barbados in 1992 when, set 201, they made 148.
On that occasion, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh shared all 10 victims on a surface Malcolm Marshall thinks was very similar to this one. Remarkable control and discipline were shown by the pair then, and were the most impressive features of the South African bowling yesterday, the best of which, once more, came from Shaun Pollock.
Pollock's ability to hit the seam as often as any fast bowler brought him four more wickets to give him his best Test match figures of nine for 103. Having passed 1,000 Test runs in the South African first innings in this, his 26th appearance, he became the second South African after Trevor Goddard to complete the double with 100 Test wickets when he had Courtney Walsh lbw. Only Ian Botham, Vinoo Mankad and Kapil Dev have been quicker.
The crowd of 19,000 erupted when David Shepherd raised his finger, as well they might after a tense day of attritional cricket that was one for the purist. Sadly attendances are dipping worryingly here - only 32,000 watched the first three days. More might have come on Saturday but for a post-lunch deluge which turned the Wanderers into a lake and restricted play to 26.3 overs.
Uneven bounce may have directly caused the fall of only one West Indian wicket (though crucially that was Brian Lara's), but it preyed on batsmen's minds and made strokeplay difficult. None in this match would say they really felt in, as slow run-rates would indicate. Lara had no chance against a rapid delivery from around the wicket from Allan Donald that skidded through.
Pollock, who had made early inroads when Philo Wallace paid the penalty for playing across the line, removed Shivnarine Chanderpaul with a classic piece of bowling. Chanderpaul, at the non-striker's end, had just seen Pollock go past Clayton Lambert's edge with four successive deliveries. Now Pollock brought one back off the seam to win an lbw appeal.
The pressure was well maintained by David Terbrugge, a tall line-and-length merchant in the mould of Angus Fraser, who was making his first appearance. Stuart Williams, pinned down, tried to cut a ball too close to him and gave second slip some catching practice.
Lambert had watched these comings and goings with uncharacteristic restraint, grinding to 17 in 29 overs. But his patience proved valuable, for he helped see off the new ball before Pat Symcox spun one sharply to have him athletically caught behind. Rawl Lewis's leg-breaks may yet play a part today.
South Africa must have been one wicket away from victory when Lambert was fifth out at 80. But Carl Hooper proved a formidable obstacle at No 7, forced down the order because of a groin strain. Ridley Jacobs, playing his first Test at 31 but with a first-class batting average for the Leewards of 48, clung to the crease for three hours as the pair added 68. Hooper contented himself with two boundaries in 90 balls.
Jacobs, a muscular left-hander who hooked Donald for six, eventually fell to a foolish heave at Symcox. But thanks to him, the West Indies have a sporting chance.
Day 5: Kallis guides South Africa to first blood
By Geoffrey Dean in Johannesburg
SOUTH AFRICA, slow starters since readmission, won the first Test of a series for the first time since their 1994 tour of England. Victory came just before tea, thanks largely to their middle order's clear determination to be as positive as possible. Jacques Kallis anchored the innings tenaciously with an unbeaten 57 in nearly four hours.
Hansie Cronje, whose own contribution of 31 had been so important, admitted his relief afterwards that the pitch had not deteriorated on the final day. He said he thought the badly cracked surface had become uneven on day two and played the same throughout. Certainly, nothing shot through that was straight, nor was movement off the seam at all excessive.
Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh started superbly, but on a hot day they tired and did not come back as well as they generally do. Certainly, they suffered from lack of support, Brian Lara being willing to entrust only five overs to Nixon McLean. Instead, he looked towards the inexperienced leg-spinner, Rawl Lewis, but he found little turn except out of the rough and felt obliged to come around the wicket for all but his first five overs.
The South Africans had themselves been plagued by the same negative frame of mind for the first 22 overs, during which they managed only 29 runs and lost both openers. Ambrose removed Gary Kirsten with a ball that lifted spitefully, but the length of his opening spell, 10 overs, must have sapped him badly. His second spell of three overs cost 19, and he was not recalled again until the score was 153 and the game over.
Daryll Cullinan initially freed the South Africans from the same defensive mindset that contributed to defeat in the sides' only previous meeting - in Barbados in 1992. He began by sweeping Carl Hooper for two fours in an over, then took two more boundaries off one McLean over. Stuart Williams held a stunning catch at midwicket off a full-blooded pull to dismiss Cullinan, but by now the shackles had been broken.
Cronje, almost run out without facing, maintained the impetus, using his feet to Lewis, launching into anything driveable and taking on the short-pitched ball. No sooner had he passed Trevor Goddard's record for Test runs on this ground (609) than he enjoyed more luck when he was caught off an Ambrose no-ball at silly mid-on. That would have been 97 for four, and by the time he fell to a top-edged pull, victory was almost assured. Importantly, between the 23rd over and his dismissal in the 46th, 95 runs had been rattled up - many by taking the aerial route.
Kallis's second fifty of the match was one of skill, concentration and commitment. He played every ball on its merits, beginning slowly and choosing his shots carefully - most of them off the back foot. He was narrowly beaten to the man-of-the-match award by Shaun Pollock.