South Africa fought back today to grab the advantage from the Windies on the first day of the second Test at Cape Town. Electing to bat, several Windies batsmen got starts but none so far has carried on to make the big scores necessary to post a formidable total. At stumps the Windies were 240/8. Half way through the day's play things looked promising for the Windies with Marlon Samuels (51) and Shiv Chanderpaul (64n.o.) in the middle of a 106 run fourth wicket stand. However a quick double strike by Makhaya Ntini (2-63) removed Samuels and Dwayne Bravo at 183/4 and 185/5 respectively. A 35-run 6th wicket partnership between Denesh Ramdin (21) and Chanderpaul raised hopes that the pair would bat until the close of play, but 3 quick wickets by Dale Steyn (4-60) at the end of the third session assured that South Africa had the better of the first day's play.
Chanderpaul will try to milk the tail for as many runs as he can get tomorrow and hopefully push the score close to 300, which should be competitive on a pitch that looks like it could die by the fourth or fifth day. Chanderpaul, incredibly, notched his 8th score of 50 or more in his last nine Test innings, including a record 7 on the trot until he made 8 in the second innings of the first Test at Port Elizabeth. Some might not agree, but Chaderpaul, in my opinion, will be remembered among the very best batsmen that the Windies have produced by the time his career is over.
The South Africans have made one change in bringing in Neil McKenzie for the struggling Herschelle Gibbs, even while still leaving out Shaun Pollock from their squad. The Windies also made a change bringing in Rawle Lewis for Darren Sammy, and unless Sammy is injured I can't say that I understand why. I've been calling for a spinner in the Windies line up for quite sometime now, but Rawle Lewis? Rawle Lewis? He of the 1 Test wicket. I don't understand it when Omari Banks (28 Test wickets, 8 years younger than Lewis) and an promising young spinner like Amit Jaggernauth are overlooked. Maybe Lewis will surprise though, after all, that 1 Test wicket was against South Africa.
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