South Africa’s quest to whitewash the West Indies came to a shuddering halt at Newlands on Tuesday in the face of defiant resistance led by debutant Dwayne Smith.
The 20-year-old Smith lashed the local attack in making an undefeated 105 as the Windies hung on for an unlikely draw in the third cricket Test.
Having to survive 105 overs or score what should have been a wildly unrealistic 440 for victory, the Windies ended the final day’s play on 354 for five. Although the Windies escaped a repeat of the whitewash they suffered in 1998, they were unable to save the four match series.
The hosts lead 2-0 with just the final Test at Centurion Park to be played. Instead of producing dour defence in the face of enormous odds, Smith played the most sumptuous of innings.
Far from being overawed, Smith surged to his half century at better than a run a ball. He thumped Paul Adams high over long on to bring up the milestone and at the same time emphasise the dearth of quality spinners in the country.
Smith took a particular liking to Adams’ wrist spin, hammering 42 of his first 54 runs off the 26 year old.
He was equally adept against the quicker stuff, square driving Makhaya Ntini for an enormous six over point. Remarkably, the second half of his century was even quicker than the first, requiring just 43 balls.
Even the notoriously ”nervous nineties” presented no problems for Smith — he took just four balls to move to his 100 once he reached the 90s.
Batting at number six, Smith came to the wicket when South Africa’s hunt for 10 wickets was rejuvenated following the dismissal of Brian Lara.
In making 86, Lara defied the South African attack for a touch over three hours, putting on 156 for the third wicket with Ramnaresh Sarwan (69).
Lara had hammered 14 fours before attempting to pull Nel through the on side. Instead, Lara edged the ball off the bottom of his bat, presenting keeper Mark Boucher with his 271st dismissal.
By catching Lara, Boucher moved past Jeffrey Dujon into third place on the list for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper.
Boucher had earlier caught Daren Ganga for 10 off Makhaya Ntini before Ntini struck again to rid the South Africans of first innings centurion Chris Gayle.
Gayle was one of three Windies centurions in a match that produced seven — the most in a match involving South Africa. – Sapa