Maharaj shines with eight wickets but rain has final say as South Africa, Windies play to a draw

Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Kyle Verreynne of South Africa during day five of the first Test match. (Photo: Daniel Prentice/Gallo Images)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

12 Aug 2024

West Indies came within 93 runs of victory while South Africa needed five wickets as the rain in Trinidad and Tobago ruled out both possible results.

The Proteas and West Indies played out to a rain-affected draw in their first of two Test matches in the Caribbean.

About 155 overs were lost to rain across the five days of action at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, and all three results were still possible at the end of day five.

Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma pushed for victory on Sunday after declaring on 173/3 after fewer than 30 overs of batting in the second innings, leaving West Indies with an attainable total of 298 to win.

Alick Athanaze struck an elegant 92 off only 116 deliveries to get his side within 93 runs of victory, while South Africa needed only five wickets to seal a win, but ultimately the weather reigned supreme.

“We tried our best to really make the most of what was put in front of us,” Bavuma said at the close of play on the final day.

“At the end of the day, the weather got the best of what could have been a really good, competitive game of cricket.”

South Africa’s batters – who have struggled in red-ball cricket in recent years – laid the foundation of the strong position the side were in on day five — being able to call the shots and declare.

First-innings half-centuries by Tony de Zorzi (78) and Bavuma (86), as well as contributions from Kyle Verreynne (39) and Wiaan Mulder (41 not out), guided South Africa to 357 all out.

The batters were assisted by a placid pitch, which offered some assistance to spin bowling later in the match, but the bounce was predictable and there was no exaggerated movement off the deck.

Bowling woes

The bowling attack, however, was always going to struggle to bowl West Indies out twice, having already lost most of the first day to rain as well as being a bowler short.

Head coach Shukri Conrad chose to select Mulder as the sole all-rounder in the side while also selecting seven batters — Ryan Rickelton came in as an extra batter.

That meant that Mulder, recognised as a batting all-rounder at domestic level, came in to bat at No 8, while South Africa only had two out-and-out fast bowlers in Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

Kyle Verreynne and Aiden Markram of South Africa appeal for the wicket of Alick Athanaze of West Indies on day five of the first Test match. (Photo: Daniel Prentice / Gallo Images)

The Proteas’ bowling was disciplined enough for West Indies to not set a massive first-innings total, but also lacked enough bite to make regular breakthroughs.

The Windies batted out 91.5 overs and only scored 233 runs, achieved at about 2.5 runs to the over.

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj claimed four scalps – in a mammoth effort of 40 overs – while Rabada picked up three and Ngidi and Markram shared the other two.

While Mulder had a solid enough outing with the bat – despite coming in at No 8 – his role as third seamer was largely ineffective on a pitch that required something extra to find success.

Forcing a result

The Proteas batted quickly at the end of day four and start of day five trying to force a result — going at just under six runs to the over.

Test newbie Tristan Stubbs was particularly effective, reverse sweeping and sweeping boundaries at will from the Windies spinners. He notched up a maiden Test half-century, scoring 68 off 50 deliveries, which included six fours and two sixes.

“From a batting point of view, the way we went about our business in the second innings, we came out with good positive intent and tried to buy ourselves as much time as possible by taking on the game,” Bavuma said.

“With the bowling, it was always going to be tough with the limited time we had.”

Maharaj took another four-fer in the second dig, claiming match figures of 8/164, and as a result picked up the Player of the Match award.

Temba Bavuma (seated), Aiden Markram (left) and Kyle Verreynne of South Africa during day five of the first Test match. (Photo: Daniel Prentice / Gallo Images)

“The guys gave it a good shot,” Bavuma said. “Keshav, again a strong, valiant effort from him supported by ‘KG’ as well, who seemed to get something out of the wicket every now and then.

“At the end of the day, we wanted to have a little bit more time. Losing seven sessions (to rain) is always going to be tough.”

Rabada picked up the other wicket in the West Indies’ second innings, that of opener Mikyle Louis to a well-executed short ball plan.

In total, South Africa had two balls shy of 57 overs to try to blow the West Indies batters away, but fell short enough to leave an opening for the Caribbean side to get back into a possible winning position of 201 for the loss of five wickets.

Nonetheless, Bavuma was pleased with his team’s showing.

“(There’s) a lot of positives with the bat and the ball considering we haven’t played for quite a while,” the skipper said. “We can only get better as a team.” DM

The second and final Test match of the tour will take place at the Providence Stadium in Guyana from Thursday.

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South Africa

Bowling woes

Forcing a result