South Africa stamped their authority on the third and deciding Test on Friday, declaring on 556-4 to set the injury-plagued West Indies a mammoth target of 418 to make the Proteas bat again.
At close of play on the second day, the West Indies were 23 without loss, still trailing by 394 runs. Daren Ganga and Brenton Parchment took no chances as they faced 11 overs before the close of play.
The South Africans cashed in on the superb batting conditions, with three century stands. The only South African batsman who failed to record a half century was Herschelle Gibbs, who went out for 27 on the first day. The Proteas smashed 84 fours and two sixes on their way to their massive total.
Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla picked up from their overnight score of 213-1, and appeared set to bat forever, with Smith continuing to dominate and Amla playing the more delicate shots.
West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo said on Thursday that his team have to develop new game plans to deal with the rampant South Africans, and his team talk obviously had an effect — the West Indies players appeared more focused and their fielding was sharper.
In the tenth over of the morning, they got their first breakthrough when Bravo, fielding at short mid-off, caught Amla off the bowling of Darren Sammy for 69. The second-wicket partnership of 199 lasted three hours and ten minutes and included 32 boundaries.
Smith, who had looked awesome throughout his innings, went out six balls later, when he got a thick edge to a ball from Jerome Taylor and was caught behind by a diving Denesh Ramdin for 147. He hit 27 boundaries.
Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince shared a fourth-wicket stand of 122, which ended when Kallis, who had looked set to reach his 30th Test century, top-edged a delivery from Marlon Samuels and was caught by Runako Morton for 77. He batted for just over two hours and faced 101 balls, hitting 13 boundaries.
The West Indies took the new ball after Kallis’s dismissal, but the weary islanders were running out of steam and ideas. Ashwell Prince, who ran himself out on 98 in the second Test in Cape Town last week, nearly did the same again when he was on 96, scrambling for a single.
Luckily for him, Brenton Parchment missed the stumps, because he would have been out by a country mile, but despite the efforts of the West Indies, who dried up the runs, he reached his seventh Test century off 170 balls.
Not to be outdone, AB de Villiers reached his fourth century a short while later. It took him just over two-and-a-half hours, at nearly a run a ball and included 15 fours and a six.
Shortly after De Villiers reached his ton, Smith called the players in, declaring on the massive total of 556-4 for a first-innings lead of 417.
After their outstanding performances in the first and second Tests, the West Indies appeared a battered side.
Their charismatic captain, Chris Gayle, had to sit out the Test with a fractured thumb, and vice-captain Dwayne Bravo, who bowled his heart out in Cape Town, was unable to bowl because of a side strain.
Fidel Edwards passed a fitness test at the eleventh hour after suffering a hamstring injury in Cape Town, and the obdurate Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was limpet-like in making undefeated half centuries in the second Test, spent the day in the team dressing-room with flu. He will not be able to bat until the seventh West Indies wicket goes down. — Sapa