The South Africans had made it clear before this Test match, if anyone waswilling to hear
Marcus Prior19-Apr-2001The South Africans had made it clear before this Test match, if anyone waswilling to hear. They want to win the fifth Test and take the series 3-0;there would be no foot taken off the pedal. On Thursday they proved true totheir word, and seized the final Test against the West Indies by the scruffof the neck. At close of play the West Indies were 214-9, well short of par.
Theregoes another one
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There was very little that did not go captain Shaun Pollock’s way apartfrom the toss, although Brian Lara (81) again wielded his magnificent batand helped lift the home side from total disaster to something approachingrespectability. Carl Hooper’s decision to bat first on a wicket that hasplayed well looked to be the correct one, but the West Indies batsmen failedto capitalise.Allan Donald (4-47), returning after the hamstring injury which kept himout of the fourth Test, looked back to his fiery best, while Pollock (4-24)was also outstanding.Things could not have got off to a worse start for the West Indies,their first wicket going down off the first ball of the match bowled byDonald. It was faced by debutant opening batsman Leon Garrick, called intothe side at the eleventh hour after his 174 not out against the SouthAfricans in a largely meaningless two-day warm-up game in Montego Bay at theweekend. The ball was just short of a length and rising on the diminutiveGarrick, the batsmen cutting it straight to Shaun Pollock in the gulley.Garrick’s preparations for the Test were hardly ideal, but he now knowsthe difference between a two-day knockabout and Test cricket. It was aninjudicious shot from a nervous batsman, who stood for several seconds atthe crease in horror and disbelief at the way he had thrown his wicket away.He joins a man who previously ran a club all of his own, for Testbatsmen dismissed for a duck on debut off the first ball of a Test match.The other is South Africa’s Jimmy Cook, dismissed by Kapil Dev of Indian inDurban in 1992-1993.By lunch, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (7) and Chris Gayle (25) had followed,and Marlon Samuels became Donald’s third victim when he edged to MarkBoucher in the first over after the interval. His departure brought captainCarl Hooper to the crease and for the next hour or so, he and Lara wrestedthe initiative slowly back towards the West Indies.The way it was handed back was a cameo of the series, and the culprit onthis occasion was the captain. Pollock set the trap with two men on theboundary behind square on the leg side, bowled the bouncer, Hooper (25)hooked and Gary Kirsten took the catch.Ridley Jacobs followed soon afterwards for a six-ball duck, but Dillonkept Lara company as the left-hander began to strike out. In eleven Testsagainst South Africa he has never reached 100 and again he fellfrustratingly short, spooning a catch to Jacques Kallis as he baled out of apull shot off Pollock. His 81 came in 228 minutes, off 156 balls andincluded 12 fours.Dillon (24) offered three chances, but after Boucher spurned two of themwith batsman on nought and two, he made it third time lucky with a goodcatch off a rising delivery from Donald which took the edge and flew high tohis right.