Related Links : West Indies’ Tour of South Africa 07/08 : Scorecard
West Indies have shocked South Africa by beating them in four days in the opening test match at Port Elizabeth. The victory meant a new life for West Indies’ Cricket as their last one came way back in May 2005 when they had defeated Pakistan at home. It was also West Indies’ first ever test match win on South African soil.
Marlon Samuels was the hero of the Test Match and also the Man of the Match for his important innings of 94 and 40 which set up an unexpected historic win. After being put into bat first by Graeme Smith, Windies ended up slightly disappointed at the end of the first day at 281 for 4. Marlon Samuels made 94 but Windies were disappointed to lose him before stumps. Earlier, it was a good opening start from former Captain Darren Ganga and the new Test Captain Chris Gayle that led the foundation. Gayle made a ferocious 66 in just 49 balls before Samuels and Chanderpaul steadied the innings.
West Indies on the second day stretched their total to 408 thanks largely to Chanderpaul’s 104. He got support from Darren Sammy, who made 38. By the end of the second day’s play, the West Indian bowlers made enough inroads to have their side in a great position to win the test. SA got reduced to 122 for 5 with Powell and Taylor doing the damage. On the third day, the West Indian bowlers continued their good work by bundling out the homeside for 195 in around 62 overs to gain a big lead of 213. AB de Villiers was the top scorer for the South Africans with 59. Powell and Taylor took three wickets but it was Bravo ending up as the most successful bowler with 4 for 24 in 13.1 overs.
As many as 13 wickets fell in the third day’s play as SA fought back reducing Windies to 146 for 8. But that fightback was too late as West Indies had already got to a lead of over 350. They got bowled out for 175 in their second innings which was sufficient to set a difficult target of 389 in the fourth innings. Ganga with 45 and Samuels with 40 were the top scorers for West Indies in the second innings. Left arm spinner Paul Harris took four wickets while Dale Steyn got three wickets.
Chasing 389, SA were never in the race after a top order collapse saw them at 45 for 4. A century partnership between Kallis (85) and AB de Villiers (60) provided some hope but once it was broken, the defeat was inevitable on the fourth day itself. There was a brief delay for the Windies in wrapping up the test match because of an unexpected 67-run stand between Andre Nel (34) and Dale Steyn (33) for the ninth wicket. The South African second innings lasted only under 75 overs and they scored 260 runs. All the six bowlers used by West Indies were amongst the wickets. Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor were the most successful taking three each.