Warrican's late strikes keep WI in contest after fifties from Bavuma and de Zorzi

South Africa 344 for 8 (Bavuma 86, de Zorzi 78, Warrican 3-66) vs West Indies

Tony de Zorzi, South Africa’s opening batter who was dismissed for 78 before lunch, sat on the change-room balcony with a copy of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Ironic, because what played out in front of him was nothing like the novel’s dystopian reality. Instead, it was as his coach Shukri Conrad predicted: same, old Test cricket. “Traditional” was the word South Africa’s red-ball coach used to describe what he expected would be attritional cricket in Trinidad, and that is what the teams produced.

All but one South African batter, Aiden Markram, got starts. Two, de Zorzi and captain Temba Bavuma, made half-centuries, and there were four 50-plus partnerships, but there were no hundreds. Only one frontline West Indies bowler, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, conceded at more than 3.5 runs per over and the seamers shared five wickets between them. They were disciplined most of the time and threatening for some of it, but did not consistently trouble the batters. All these things could have a lot to do with the kind of surface this Test is being played on: docile, fairly dry, and lacking in life in the form of bounce or pace. It was the kind of surface that requires patience, not flair, and rewards those who are willing to grind.

That was evident from the first exchanges when West Indies’ senior seamers Kemar Roach and Jason Holder relied on good lengths to keep South Africa quiet and were punished as soon as they strayed. In the third over of the day, Holder dropped it a fraction short and de Zorzi scored the first boundary when he dabbed it behind point. In the next over, Roach was a touch too full and Tristan Stubbs drove his first and last balls through the covers with confidence.

South Africa’s second-wicket pair were beaten on occasion but were mostly fairly comfortable early on. De Zorzi reached his second Test fifty off 78 balls. Importantly for de Zorzi, it is also his first success in his first attempt at opening in Tests. Stubbs did not quite have the same results at No. 3 and failed to use his feet when Roach angled a length ball in from wide of the crease. With the slip cordon up, Stubbs edged behind and Holder dived across from second slip to take the catch low down.

Roach was pumped and greeted a leaden-footed Bavuma with a delivery that almost kissed the bat before beating the outside edge. He kept Bavuma in the crease throughout that over but the South African captain was happy to bide his time. Bavuma took ten balls to get his first runs but when he did, he got them with confidence. He stepped down the pitch and hit Motie over his head for two runs to bring up 3000 runs in Test cricket.

While Bavuma’s approach remained watchful – understandable given this was his first Test innings since March 2023 – any aggression came from de Zorzi. He was proactive in turning an intended drive off Jayden Seales into a slice over point and reverse-swept Motie to get to 70. With a top score of 85, also scored against West Indies, de Zorzi would have been eyeing a first century but he undid himself with a second reverse sweep off Jomel Warrican and gloved it to Kavem Hodge at slip, 12 minutes before lunch.

After the break, Bavuma again dropped anchor and allowed his partner, David Bedingham, to take the fight to West Indies. Following on from his five centuries in eight matches in the County Championship, Bedingham showed his class when he double-stepped down the track to club Warrican over long-on and then waited for a Seales delivery to late-cut it for four.

That urgency rubbed off on Bavuma, who scored his first boundary in 48 balls when he advanced down to hit Warrican for four. But he quickly went back into his shell when a pull off Seales was almost caught by Hodge at square leg. Instead, it was Bedingham who fell to the pull. He couldn’t keep Seales down and sent him to deep square leg, where Keacy Carty, on debut, took the catch diving forward to give Seales his first Test wicket at his home ground.

Ryan Rickelton started convincingly with a sublime cover drive and then watched as Bavuma reached his 21st Test fifty off 123 balls. Rickelton lived dangerously and hit a full toss from Warrican straight back to him but the left-arm spinner could not hold on. Luckily for West Indies, the drop did not prove too costly. Rickelton added 11 runs to his score and then succumbed to the second new ball: lbw to Roach.

Bavuma was on 80 at that stage and still had one recognised batter, Kyle Verreynne, to accompany him in pursuit of a century. Verreynne faced the first 20 balls of their partnership, including a beamer from Seales that hit him on the left glove, but did not seem to do any damage. Bavuma then survived a West Indies review for lbw off Holder, which was too high on umpire’s call. But two-and-a-half overs later, Seales bowled a full toss and Bavuma’s concentration broke. He missed the flick, was hit at shin height and given out. Verreynne convinced him to review but only in hope. He had to leave, without a first Test century away from home, a second against West Indies and a third in his career.

South Africa were 271 for 6 and West Indies had the opportunity to run through their lower order. They conceded only 20 runs in 12 overs to frustrate the naturally aggressive Verreynne and Wiaan Mulder, but the pair held firm and as West Indies tired, they cashed in. But just as they started to pull away, Warrican struck twice in two balls. Verreynne offered him a simple redemptive return catch that he held onto and then Keshav Maharaj chipped one back to him that required a dive to take with both hands but Warrican did that too and suddenly South Africa were in danger of a sub-350 score.

Mulder and Kagiso Rabada took them to the brink of that and they will be eyeing slightly more on the third day.

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.

Warrican’s late strikes keep WI in contest after fifties from Bavuma and de Zorzi

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