DURBAN, South Africa, CMC:
HAVING CONTRIBUTED significantly to their own predicament with another pitiful performance in the field on the third day of the second Test yesterday, the West Indies now face the daunting prospect of having to bat for almost two days at Kingsmead to avoid going 2-0 down in the four-Test series against South Africa.
Already hampered by a limited and inexperienced bowling attack, the tourists proceeded to drop no fewer than six catches on the day, a level of generosity that the hosts accepted gratefully in compiling 658 for nine declared, their second highest Test innings total ever and the highest on home soil.
Chief beneficiaries were Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten, who established a South African record fourth-wicket partnership of 249 on the way to achieving their own personal milestones.
Following on his 158 in the first innings of the first Test, Kallis spent eight hours in the middle in getting to 177, while Kirsten, who missed the Johannesburg duel to be present for the birth of his first child, celebrated with 137, along the way becoming the first South African to score 20 centuries and pass 7,000 runs in Tests.
Starting the second innings with a mountainous deficit of 394 runs, Daren Ganga and Wavell Hinds managed to survive their chaotic running between the wickets to negotiate 10 testing overs to the close and go into the fourth day with the West Indies at 18 without loss.
The one encouraging aspect of a day they would like to forget was the ease with which the South Africans accumulated their runs.
Gone were the menacing movement and spiteful bounce they confronted on the opening day under heavily overcast skies.
The West Indies can only hope that the relentless sunshine of an unforgiving day will return today to at least give them a chance of making the home team work hard to ensure they retain the Vivian Richards Trophy with two Tests still to play.
Their task has been made even more difficult by the fact that Shivnarine Chanderpaul will not be able to bat at least until the fall of the fifth wicket as a left thigh strain kept him off the field for the entire day.
As if the inconsistencies in line and length that fed half-volleys and long-hops to ravenous batsmen were not enough, the deplorable out-cricket of the Caribbean side again raised questions about their focus and dedication to the task on another foreign campaign.
They day was barely underway when Brian Lara missed a head-high chance at first slip as Kirsten slashed at Mervyn Dillon.
What should have been an aberration actually set the tone for the day, as half-an-hour later, Vasbert Drakes made two ghastly errors within the space of five deliveries.
Kallis, on 85, hooked Fidel Edwards to long-leg where the veteran Barbadian spilled the catch.
With the embarrassment of that lapse still painfully fresh, he then failed to hold on to the opportunity presented to him at third slip when in the next over, Kirsten, then on 41, sliced a cut at Dillon.
It seemed inconceivable that the situation could degenerate further, but there was worse to follow after 158 runs were plundered in the two-and-a-half hours of the morning session, the Western Province pair both registering their hundreds to the acclaim of a rapturous crowd.
Kirsten eventually fell soon after the interval, swinging part-time leg-spinner Ramnaresh Sarwan to Drakes on the square-leg boundary where a chance finally stuck.
Neil McKenzie smote three fours and a six in a quickfire 32, joining the list of recipients of West Indian charity when Sarwan missed a caught-and-bowled attempt before he had really settled in. Kallis' determined pursuit of a first double-century ended in frustration again when Sarwan held on to the catch at backward-point as the muscular right-hander drove at Dillon, giving the Trinidadian a long overdue first wicket.
Drakes returned with the ball in hand to have McKenzie caught behind and Mark Boucher leg-before.
But there was still time for more insult and injury with Ganga failing to hold a chance at first slip offered by Andrew Hall off Adam Sanford, while Sanford himself put a dreadful seal to the performance, making a complete mess of a regulation catch on the backward square-leg boundary when Shaun Pollock attempted to swing Sarwan out of the ground.
The former captain's unbeaten 38 and Hall's 32 turned the screws on a dispirited West Indian side as the shadows lengthened, but with their task bordering on the improbable, this notoriously inconsistent team will have to rise to a level so far unattained in recent years to avoid humiliation.
