West Indies bounce back after poor first innings against South Africa

West Indies collapsed, then recovered dramatically before the conclusion of the second day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday. Pacer Anrich Nortje took four wickets in four overs as West Indies were all out for 212, giving South Africa a 130-run first innings lead. A total of 179 for four. West Indies looked reasonably solid at 169 for three 40 minutes after tea, with top-scorers Ramon Reifer and Roston Chase sharing a patient partnership. But both the batsmen got out on consecutive balls. Reifer was dismissed for 63 off the last ball of Marco Johnson’s over. Chase edged the first ball of Kagiso Rabada’s next over to first slip and was dismissed for 22.

Then Nortje took over. He had earlier ended a stubborn partnership between Reifer and Jermaine Blackwood and he went on to take four more wickets, taking five for 36. This was his fourth five wicket haul.

West Indies lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs.

Aiden Markram, who scored a century in the first innings, got South Africa’s second innings off to a brisk start as 31 runs were scored in the first four overs.

But Dean Elgar was caught at third man by Alzarri Joseph in a repeat of his first innings dismissal.

New cap Tony de Zorzi was caught first ball by Kemar Roach and new captain Temba Bavuma also fell to Joseph on the first ball. This completed a ‘pair’ for Bavuma, who faced only three balls in two innings.

Jason Holder was brought on to bowl the last over of the day and Keegan Pietersen needed only one ball to get lbw, with a delivery that stayed low.

Markram remained unbeaten after scoring 35 runs.

Eleven wickets fell between tea and the end.

Reifer and Blackwood challenged South Africa’s four-pronged fast bowling attack for most of the afternoon, scoring only 65 runs in 29 overs between lunch and tea and losing Blackwood’s wicket.

Blackwood scored 37 runs in a 64-run third-wicket partnership with Reifer before he walked a full ball from Nortje and was caught by wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaasen from the inside edge.

The left-hander showed determination and courage in scoring 63, the highest score of his six-Test career. He batted for almost four hours and faced 143 balls.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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