BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE final day of the second Test between West Indies and South Africa predictably meandered to a draw yesterday (June 22) at Warner Park.
South Africa Captain Graeme Smith and right-handed batsman Alviro Petersen picked up on their 50-run partnership from day four, but the skipper was denied his half century early in the proceedings on a bouncer from Shane Shillingford that was chipped into the hands of wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.
Petersen then played the defensive man while Hashim Amla led the South African attack. West Indies captain Chris Gayle put left-arm orthodox spinner Sulieman Benn to dismiss Amla, but the hard wicket at Warner Park made it difficult to turn the ball.
Where Benn fell short, however, Shillingford stepped up again and struck down Amla at 41 off of 84 balls. Petersen was the final man to go on a yorker from Dwayne Bravo, leaving with 39 after facing 129 balls.
Jacques Kallis and AB de Villers closed out the day for the tourists with the highest partnership of the innings, 104 in 42.4 overs, as the side pushed to 235/3 from 94 overs before the match was officially declared.
Some commentators questioned West Indies Coach Otis Gibson’s decision to have his side bat tentatively on day four, taking just over 50 overs to score 99 runs before declaring three runs ahead of South Africa’s first innings total.
“We came out in the morning [yesterday] to look to score freely if we could if we were allowed to….The seamers bowled outside off with sweepers. You can only do what you are allowed to do. Unless you went and tried to force the issue, but that could have been risky,” Gibson explained.
Meanwhile, Smith said that he hopes his bowlers will have a better wicket to contend with next week when the teams travel to Barbados for the final Test of the Digicel Home Series.
“This was not an exciting surface on which to play Test cricket,” he said in the post match press conference. “We were all looking for a good, even battle between bat and ball. Hopefully, Barbados will have a little bit more in the pitch.”
Gibson echoed the remarks, noting that West Indies is likely to rely heavily on its spinners in the final match, so the side will be looking forward to a pitch that suits the bowlers’ needs.
The final match will bowl off at Kensington Oval at 10 a.m. this Saturday (June 26). Currently South Africa leads the Test series 1-0 after picking up the first match in Trinidad earlier in the month.
