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1st Test: West Indies v South Africa at Guyana, 9-13 Mar 2001 MWP |
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South Africa 1st innings:
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As uplifting as his concentration and form was for the tourists, it was equally crushing for Carl Hooper's team. The half-chance he offered on 53 in the final session on day two, when he gloved leg spinner Dinanath Ramnarine past Ridley Jacobs, was the only chance Hooper's bowlers engineered before - who else? - Courtney Walsh finally broke through .
Kirsten found run scoring more and more awkward as the session between lunch and tea evolved with the pitch becoming variable and uneven in bounce and Hooper, understandably, delaying the second new ball until 100 overs had been bowled with the first. For the batsmen it was like trying to hit a punctured tennis ball.
Just two wicket fell in the afternoon session as Neil McKenzie's perturbing lack of form continued with an unconvincing lap-sweep against Ramnarine failed to make contact with the ball which pitched outside leg stump but spun back to bowl the batsman behind his legs.
Kirsten's exhausting marathon, which lasted seven hours and 26 minutes and 338 deliveries, finally ended with a tired waft at a wide Walsh delivery that bounced unexpectedly and flew from the top edge to Jacobs who made no mistake. It was Kirsten's 12 Test century, equalling Daryll Cullinan's South African record, and also the seventh country in which he has made three figures. Only Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are not on the CV.
Mark Boucher has batted with typical flair, living dangerously but also making his own luck by adopting the brave approach rather than the timid.
His unbeaten 49 at tea will have hurt the home side badly, however, after a leading edge against Ramnarine ballooned impossibly high between three fielders when the batsman had just two runs to his name.
Kirsten's unbeaten 117 equals Daryll Cullinan's South African record for centuries and it must surely rank as one of his best. Simply that is was scored in the Caribbean will make it one of his most cherished.
After understandably struggling in the 90s against impressive leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine who was exploiting the plentiful rough outside the left-hander's off stump, Kirsten finally reached three figures with a square cut of Nixon McLean to wide third man boundary.
Never a great celebrator on the field of play, Kirsten did at least remove his helmet and let slip just a suggestion of a smile as he aknowledged the applause, mostly from his own dressing room.
Jacques Kallis played the junior, anchoring role in the second-wicket stand of 146, reaching 50 just moments after Kirsten's century before falling to a rotten umpiring decision.
Kallis played back to McLean and gained a thick inside edge onto his pad which John Hampshire failed to see or hear. An honest mistake, no doubt, but a bad one nonetheless. Kallis' 50 came from 181 balls in exactly four hours and he may be in need of a another bat following the force of the collision between this one and the concrete, pavilion steps.
Daryll Cullinan fell to a beautiful, classic leg break from the persevering and deserving Ramnarine. The delivery dipped in towards the batsman's feet, fizzed and bounced just enough to flick the outside edge and Ridley Jacobs took an awkward but important catch.
At lunch Neil McKenzie was unbeaten on three facing the ironic prospect of facing spin for much of the rest of the day when pace bowling is his strength. How the West Indies have changed.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 11 Mar2001 - 22:30