By Colin Croft in Cape Town
SOUTH Africa's cricketers were snubbed by sports minister Steve Tshwete yesterday as they continued to dominate their series against the West Indies.
Tshwete said he could not support the South African team and criticised the selectors for failing to give opportunities to more black players after Hansie Cronje's team clinched the series in the third Test.
``I am worried we will be sending white teams to the rugby and cricket World Cups in Britain this year. If that is the case it will be difficult for me to support them,'' Tshwete said.
Meanwhile, Jacques Kallis and Daryll Cullinan hit centuries as South Africa made a commanding start to the fourth Test at Newlands, reaching 282 for two at the end of the first day.
The West Indies claimed a wicket with the first ball of the match when Curtly Ambrose became the ninth player in Test history to reach the 350-wicket mark as Gary Kirsten was caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs. But the rest of the day belonged to South Africa.
Kallis and Cullinan shared an unbroken third-wicket stand of 208, but the contribution of Herschelle Gibbs, who put on 74 with Kallis, was perhaps just as significant.
When opening batsman Adam Bacher failed in the first Test, in Johannesburg, the selectors had to find a replacement, while at the same time placating all those politicians clamouring for non-whites to be selected for the Test team. In came Gibbs, a Cape Coloured, and a very determined young man.
In most quarters, even in South Africa, Gibbs, who plays his cricket at Newlands for Western Province, is not really considered a 'real' black person. Indeed, many have described him as being indistinguishable from the caucasians in the side, so fair is his complexion.
He even reminded me that I had coached him at one of the elite schools when our 'rebel' side toured in 1983-84. So he is not altogether disadvantaged. When he was selected, though, for the second Test at Port Elizabeth, to open the batting, some advantage was being taken of him.
Before that, Gibbs had never opened the batting for Western Province other than in one-day matches.Yet, since there was only one vacancy in the Test team, that of an opener, he had to open the batting against two of the best bowlers in the world.
Initially he failed, getting two and four in Port Elizabeth, but at Durban, he managed 35 and 49. Now, at Newlands, Gibbs has had to withstand the pressures of playing at home, the pressures of perhaps failing again and the immediate loss of his opening partner. He did it well. For 120 minutes, he prodded, pushed and persevered before he was second out, just before lunch, for 42. He and Kallis had seen the main West Indian bowlers actually come to a standstill as they hit back after the loss of Kirsten.
Day 2: South Africans taking control
By Geoffrey Dean in Cape Town
THE South African Board made a so-called Pledge to the Nation in the tea-break yesterday that they would intensify their efforts to develop and encourage the game among non-whites.
The West Indies Board would no doubt appreciate a pledge from their players to bat with more application after yet another top-order mini-collapse on a superb pitch in the fourth Test.
Bad luck is nonetheless following this West Indian party around South Africa. Deprived of their two best bowlers from the previous Test - the injured Courtney Walsh and Franklyn Rose West Indies lost Curtly Ambrose's services at Newlands yesterday when he limped off with a bad knee.
Then, when the West Indies batted, Brian Lara was out hit wicket, forced back on to his stumps by the pace of Allan Donald, and Donald's departure with a strained hamstring barely compensated.
Both openers were beaten for pace, and the procession continued when Shivnarine Chanderpaul, seeking to break free from David Terbrugge's stranglehold, drove to cover. Carl Hooper counter-attacked powerfully to reach his first fifty of the series, in 52 balls.
The foundations for South Africa's big total were laid by Daryll Cullinan and Jacques Kallis, who made hundreds of contrasting nature while adding 235 in 77 overs together.
The feeling that Cullinan had never done full justice to his undoubted talent was partly assuaged by his seven-hour 168, a Test best that was notable for its stroke selection and, in particular, his pulling.
Day 3: Hooper's sorry exit says it all
By Geoffrey Dean in Cape Town
NEEDING not just to save the follow-on but also to get as close as possible to South Africa's sizeable total, West Indies had another disappointing day. With two days of this fourth Test remaining, South Africa lead by 284 and should be too far ahead of their beleaguered opponents soon after lunch today.
Hansie Cronje revealed that he would not have enforced the follow-on unless the lead had been around 250. Allan Donald's hamstring strain was bad enough to restrict him to a single over yesterday and Cronje admitted that Donald may not be able to bowl again in this match.
On such a good pitch, the South African seamers did particularly well to restrict West Indies to 212. The batting of Brian Lara's side continues to underachieve to calamitous effect with their first total of the series, 261, remaining their highest in seven innings. A malaise seems to have set in, epitomised by Carl Hooper's criminal run out.
Unperturbed by the gravity of his side's plight, Hooper had looked as immovable as Table Mountain. After his brilliant counter-attack on Sunday evening, he had clearly set out his stall to play a long innings. Denying himself in the team's cause, he hit just one four in 110 minutes yesterday morning. Nothing looked more likely than a first West Indian hundred of the series.
But then Hooper, seeking a plausible third run to deep extra, ambled for too long before realising Cronje's superb boundary throw might catch him out. Hooper was just out and his vital wicket had been frittered away.
That left West Indies 146 for six but, thanks to Ridley Jacobs's calculating 29 and Ottis Gibson's aggressive 37, a few precious runs were gleaned. Paul Adams bowled erratically but there was occasional turn for him and his time could come on the fifth day.
With no Curtly Ambrose to worry about owing to knee problems, Herschelle Gibbs seemed more relaxed and hit several offside shots that would have pleased even Hooper. But Gibbs was soon a victim of a bad decision, the first of three wickets to fall in six balls as West Indies unexpectedly found themselves back in the game.
Cronje, backed by the increasingly dependable Jacques Kallis, then reasserted his side's authority with decisive strokeplay.
At the start, the South African board's president, Ray White, had issued a formal apology for his off-the-cuff remarks during the board's ``pledge to the nation'' here the day before. He had announced that interference in the side's selection was neither wanted nor needed but was forced to apologise by the board's executive.
Day 4: 'Disgraceful' display shames West Indies
By Geoffrey Dean in Cape Town
THIS must rank as one of the most depressing days in the West Indies' distinguished cricketing history. Barring a deluge today, they will go 4-0 down in the series after batting yesterday that their coach, Malcolm Marshall, described as disgraceful.
Hansie Cronje, the South Africa captain, left himself with nine hours to bowl West Indies out and he almost managed it in half a day, with the tourists collapsing to 93 for six by the close. But for Brian Lara's resistance, he surely would have done so. Had one more wicket been taken, the extra half hour could have been claimed.
Let it be asked then why, off the last scheduled ball of the day, Ottis Gibson, instead of playing a defensive shot to Paul Adams, went for a massive blow. He missed, the ball shaved the off-stump and Gibson walked off smiling as if it was a benefit game.
That one stroke summed up the parlous mental state of the West Indian party. It showed that as a collective unit, which they ceased to be from the second Test, they had all but given up. Rain may or may not come today - there is a small chance of afternoon showers - but it was the duty of this West Indian side to stretch the match as long as possible into the final day.
Nobody can have believed they cared after seeing the first eight overs, in which three wickets were given away. Philo Wallace set the tone with the sort of shot no self-respecting club batsman would countenance. An agricultural dig to mid-on would describe it.
Junior Murray now pulled ill-advisedly when a straight bat was needed and was leg before. Shivnarine Chanderpaul then drove loosely at a ball begging to be left and got an edge. Daryll Cullinan held the catch of the series at first slip after flinging himself to his left to grasp a flying daisy-cutter.
Lara and Carl Hooper, for whom you had to feel, were yet again at the mercy of the new ball as they have been all series. At least they did not have to contend with Allan Donald, whose hamstring is torn, but Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis and David Terbrugge probed relentlessly.
For a time, the two batsmen were equal to it, before Hooper paid for a moment's indiscretion. It seemed an indolent stroke but his footwork was at fault as much as his mind. Chasing a wide half-volley, he dragged on.
Darren Ganga, who possesses the type of sound temperament the West Indies must now seek out if they are to rise again, was the recipient of a highly dubious lbw decision. Pollock celebrated without inhibition, as well he might after going past his father Peter's total of 116 Test victims.
Lara fell in the last over of the day. He twice needed treatment for an injured knee but still managed to hit 14 in an over off Adams in what was otherwise a subdued and watchful innings of 33. But, having played with great responsibility for more than 2.5 hours, he was deceived in the flight and stubbed back a return catch to Adams.
Kallis enhanced his already considerable reputation with another tremendous all-round performance. An unbeaten 88 in nearly five hours yesterday took him close to 400 runs for the series. He has had limited opportunities to pick up wickets but, given the new ball in Donald's absence, he shrugged off fatigue to claim three victims, giving him five in the match.
Day 5: Kallis makes it an all-round triumph
By Geoffrey Dean in Cape Town
WHILE the West Indies mourned their seventh successive away Test defeat to go 4-0 down in the series, South Africa saluted a new all-round hero in Jacques Kallis.
The 23-year-old Cape-tonian became only the eighth player in Test history to score a century and a fifty as well as take five wickets in an innings in the same match.
Kallis was on the field for all but four hours of this match, having batted for a combined total of 12. Yet he still found the energy yesterday to bowl an unbroken 15-over spell either side of lunch. The carrot, of course, was a first five-wicket haul, and he just achieved it when last man Mervyn Dillon skied him to mid-off. Hansie Cronje had just told him it was his last over.
The man-of-the-match award was axiomatic for Kallis, who has now taken 25 wickets in his last eight Tests. With typical modesty afterwards, he said he thought he was still a batsman who could bowl a bit. More like the most complete all-rounder in world cricket when you add in his dependable slip catching.
The manner in which the West Indies have folded so spinelessly in this series suggested a finish within the hour when they resumed on 93 for six. But thanks to Test personal bests from Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean and Dillon, South Africa, missing Allan Donald, were kept in the field until 70 minutes after lunch.
The lower order showed the top six what was achievable on a good pitch with Jacobs, whose unbeaten 69 spanned 197 minutes, putting away the bad ball unerringly.
Contemplating a possible whitewash, Brian Lara said he was ``very unhappy'' but added: ``I still believe we can play to our potential in the final Test.''
South Africa have named an unchanged 12 for the fifth and final Test at Centurion Park, starting on Jan 15. They will field the same XI if Donald recovers from a hamstring strain. All-rounder Lance Klusener stands by.