A century partnership between Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and a whirlwind 66 by Chris Gayle, put the West Indies in a commanding position on 281 for four at the end of the first day of the first Castle Lager Test against South Africa at St George’s Park on Wednesday.
When the West Indies arrived in South Africa earlier this month, captain Gayle promised that his team, ranked eighth in the world, would be competitive in the Castle Lager Test series against South Africa and the visitors lived up to that promise on Wednesday.
Graeme Smith, who is leading South Africa for the fiftieth time in a Test match, won the toss and chose to field, obviously backing his bowlers to dismiss the team that lost heavily against South Africa A in East London last week.
However, Gayle had other ideas, and he and his opening partner Daren Ganga put on 98 runs for the first wicket, their 50 partnership coming up off 65 balls. They put the South African fast bowlers to the sword, with Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini coming in for particular punishment. Gayle’s 50 — his 28th in Test cricket and third against South Africa — came up off 42 balls, and included 10 boundaries.
Andre Nel got the breakthrough South Africa so desperately needed when Ganga was caught behind by Mark Boucher for 33. Smith then introduced Paul Harris and his gamble worked immediately. Gayle hit Harris for four off the first delivery, but then edged the second to Jacques Kallis in the slips for 66.
He faced 49 balls and hit 13 boundaries.
The West Indies went to lunch on 130 for two, but more disciplined bowling from South Africa saw the run rate slow down. Only 60 runs were scored in the afternoon session for the loss of Morton’s wicket. He was caught in the gully by Ashwell Prince for 33. He and Samuels put on 64 runs together.
Samuels then shared a fourth wicket stand of 111 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul. He gained in confidence as the runs started piling up, at one stage hitting three fours in two successive overs. Some of his shots were breathtaking, as the South Africans chased the leather in all directions.
However, Dale Steyn, who had a miserable day, conceding 82 runs off 20 overs, finally got the breakthrough with the fifth delivery with the new ball when Samuels was caught by Kallis six runs short of what would have been his second Test century.
At close of play, Chanderpaul was not out on 43 and Dwayne Bravo had yet to score.
Samuels was naturally disappointed at having failed to score a century, but said he though he had played well.
”I went out there knowing South Africa have a good and consistent bowling attack,” he said. ”I knew I had to be patient, and I worked hard for my runs. I had to dig in as much as possible, and my work paid off well, but not well enough for me.”
He praised Gayle for his opening stand. ”I think South Africa were caught on the back foot, thinking they would get a few quick wickets,” he said.
”But it didn’t happen and Chris and the opening partnership really set the platform for us.
”It’s fair to say it was not our best day,” said Proteas coach Mickey Arthur. ”We didn’t bowl well in the first session, we did better in the second and then we let it go a bit before the new ball. But we’ll analyse it tonight and talk about it tomorrow and I’m confident we’ll pull ourselves out of it tomorrow.
”We believe 350 would be a good score on this wicket, so we’ll be working hard to restrict them to less than that,” he added. ”One thing we know is that we are in a Test match — we’re in a major battle and we’ll have to lift our game.” – Sapa