The West Indies had cause to rue four missed chances as South Africa moved steadily toward a substantial first-innings total on the first day of the second Test at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, yesterday.
South Africa were 157-1 at tea after being sent in to bat in overcast conditions.
Dean Elgar (85 not out) and Faf du Plessis (42 not out) put on an unbeaten 110 for the second wicket, but both should have been dismissed.
Photo: AFP
Du Plessis was put down by Marlon Samuels at gully off Jerome Taylor when he had made 8 and again by Devon Smith diving to his right off left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn when he was on 26.
One ball after Du Plessis’ second escape, the left-handed Elgar went down the wicket to Benn and was well out of his ground as the ball squeezed through to hit low on the pad of captain and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.
Elgar was on 48 and to add insult to injury for the disappointed bowler he went down the wicket again just after that and lofted Benn to the straight boundary to raise his half-century.
Elgar could have been run out on 73.
After a mix-up with Du Plessis, he was several meters short of safety when Kenroy Peters’ throw from midwicket missed the stumps at the bowler’s end.
The tourists only wicket came after Elgar and Alviro Petersen had put on 47 for the first wicket.
Petersen played a rash stroke against Shannon Gabriel and was caught by Leon Johnson, running back from cover.
Gabriel was one of three changes in the West Indies bowling lineup.
Gabriel, debutant Peters and all-rounder Jason Holder all bowled accurately in overcast conditions.
Gabriel and Holder were particularly effective in tandem, conceding only 10 runs in nine overs after Petersen’s dismissal.
South Africa made two changes from the side that won the first Test at Centurion by an innings and 220 runs.
Batsman Temba Bavuma became the sixth black South Africa player — and the first since Lonwabo Tsotsobe four seasons ago — to play Test cricket.
He replaced the injured Quinton de Kock and is the 85th player to be capped since South Africa returned to Test cricket in 1992.
In a second change for the hosts, Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir replaced seamer Kyle Abbott, with spin expected to be a factor on the St George’s Park pitch.
A.B. de Villiers, who will continue to keep wicket as he did in both West Indies innings in the first Test after De Kock’s injury, is playing in his 97th consecutive Test since his debut 10 years ago.
By doing so he moved one ahead of Australia’s Adam Gilchrist, the previous record-holder for the most consecutive Tests from debut.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but