DURBAN, 27 December 2003 — Brian Lara and Ridley Jacobs hit half-centuries as the West Indies fought back after a disastrous start on the first day of the second Test against South Africa at Kingsmead yesterday.
The West Indies, who were 50 for five shortly before lunch, were 232 for eight when rain stopped play 25 overs early.
West Indian captain Lara (72) and Jacobs (58) both survived chances as they put on 98 for the sixth wicket in 79 minutes to stem an onslaught by South Africa’s all-pace attack.
Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, who took nine wickets when South Africa won the first Test by 189 runs in Johannesburg, was again South Africa’s most successful bowler, taking four for 56, but the South Africans finished the day frustrated at not being able to finish off the West Indian batting.
Ntini said: “We didn’t bowl very well after lunch. Our concentration started going away. We thought we could bowl them out for 150.”
South African coach Eric Simons said he would have been happy with the close-of-play score if he had been offered it at the start of the day — “but after we had them five down for 50 the final score was disappointing.”
Simons blamed a surfeit of attempted “glory balls” — with the bowlers trying to blast out the opposition instead of sticking to basics. “Sometimes when the ball is doing more than you expect you try too hard to make things happen,” he said.
“You have to give credit to Lara and Jacobs but the fact that they scored quickly indicates we didn’t stick to our disciplines.”
West Indian tailenders Vasbert Drakes, who made a Test-best 40 not out, and Adam Sanford (13 not out) put on an unbeaten 41 for the ninth wicket as the tourists finished with a reasonably respectable total in conditions which were difficult for batting.
The skies were overcast throughout the day, with the floodlights on when play got under way 30 minutes late after morning rain, while the pitch offered bounce and sideways movement. Shaun Pollock, playing in his home town, started the West Indian top-order collapse when he had Wavell Hinds caught behind off the last ball of the first over.
The left-handed Hinds tried to leave a ball which seamed back at him and deflected off the shoulder of his bat. Pollock struck again in his second over when Ramnaresh Sarwan was caught at second slip. Ntini followed up, reducing West Indies to 17 for four when Daren Ganga and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were caught at first and third slip respectively. Carlton Baugh helped Lara take the total to 50 with some bold but risky strokes before he was caught at second slip off Andre Nel for 21 shortly before lunch.
