West Indies 71 for 2 (Reifer 19*, Blackwood 13*, Rabada 1-16) trail South Africa 342 (Markram 115, Elgar 71, Joseph 5-81) by 271 runs
Despite losing the key wickets of their openers, West Indies managed to find a boundary-rich flow to their innings, a theme common with South Africa’s first innings. Jermaine Blackwood came in with positive intent that led to firm strokemaking, helping the visitors get to 71 for 2 at lunch.
South Africa’s bowlers started well. Rabada was on song with the new ball, he hit a length at will to constantly threaten the outside edge. Marco Jansen supported him from the other end but Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul ensured being beaten didn’t stop them; they got the odd boundary and pushed through.
That was until the seventh over, when Rabada first beat Brathwaite’s outside edge with the ball angling away. Two balls later, he straightened the line a bit to go past the defence with the wobbly ball that seamed away to dislodge the bails.
Chanderpaul continued to be tight in his defence but went after loose balls. Marco Jansen pitching up led to an off-drive in the eighth over. Rabada offered a short and wide ball next over that was ramped over point, and Anrich Nortje’s half-volley in his second over was creamed through cover.
Raymon Reifer settled in with boundaries of his own through the off side. The stand hit its first bump when Chanderpaul fended a ball to Tony de Zorzi at short leg but survived as replays showed the ball had bounced before being grabbed.
But Chanderpaul lost his wicket in the next over when he went for a slashing drive off Coetzee that was plucked by Senuran Muthusamy at gully; that gave Coetzee his first Test wicket. Blackwood joined Reifer to take South Africa safely to lunch.
The day started with South Africa’s lower order squeezing out 28 runs from 4.3 overs to reach 342, before Joseph got Coetzee and Nortje to register his first Test five-for and limit the damage. He finished with 5 for 81 but went for runs when he pitched the ball up on the second morning; in all five boundaries were scored among Coetzee, Jansen and Nortje, allowing the hosts to go at just over a run a ball. Nortje picked up three fours before top-edging a slog to Chanderpaul square on the offside to end the innings.