On Saturday, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada worked together to give South Africa a commanding first-inning lead against the West Indies.
South Africa leads the West Indies comfortably after one innings thanks to a combination of strikes from Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada on Saturday. The visitors are trying to overcome the effects of bad weather in an attempt to force an unlikely victory heading into the final day of the first Test of a two-match series in Trinidad. Play was limited to the final session of the fourth day due to persistent rain, but within that time, South Africa clearly demonstrated their intentions by dismissing the home team for 233 in the first innings and achieving 30 runs without loss off of five overs at the end of the second innings.
The Proteas will be looking for a full day of play on Sunday for their batsmen to try and at least set the foundation which will give the bowlers an opportunity to put the Caribbean side under pressure in the final innings of this shortened encounter. With an overall advantage of 154 runs and all ten wickets in hand.
Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa, stated, “Hopefully we can get a full day because that will obviously give us a realistic chance of getting a result,” following his team’s successful utilization of the restricted playing time on day four.To borrow a phrase from history, “If everything goes according to plan, we can ignore caution and see what occurs after taking care of the first hour to set it up.
“But it’s imperative that we set it up in that first hour,” he stated.
After Kavem Hodge and Jason Holder took the score to 49 on the resumption at 145 for four, Aiden Markram’s sporadic off-spin proved to be the decisive blow as he bowled Holder for 36.After that, Maharaj took his fourth wicket of the innings when he edged out Joshua da Silva. Bavuma then created further opportunities for Maharaj and Markram by taking three quick wickets, keeping Kagiso Rabada waiting to use the second new ball.
Before turning 30, the quick bowler took his career total of Test wickets to 294 in his 63rd match, dropping excellent slip catches to dismiss Kavem Hodge and Gudakesh Motie and trapping Kemar Roach leg-before.Jomel Warrican proved his worth with the bat by smashing an unbeaten 35 off 32 balls with three fours and two sixes to push the total over 200 runs. Warrican was the top wicket-taker in South Africa’s first innings with four for 69.
After Rabada became irritated, Lungi Ngidi came in to finish the West Indies innings by bowling the final man, Jayden Seales. This did not improve Seales’s attitude, as Tony de Zorzi was dropped at slip driving the fast bowler in the final over of the day.Now that de Zorzi and opening partner Markram have lost so much playing time over the first four days, it is unclear if the weather will be kind enough to give them the opportunity to make the final day exciting.
