There was no end to the struggle for the West Indies batting lineup in the second innings as well after a disciplined century from Quinton de Kock put South Africa in a commanding position at the end of the second day’s play of the first Test between the sides.
Having been bundled out for an abysmal 97 in the first innings and conceded a big lead of 225 runs, the Windies were rocked early once again in their return to the crease.
Kagiso Rabada, who was a bit unlucky in the first innings did not waste the new ball and sent both Kraigg Brathwaite and the concussion substitute Kieron Powell with sharp incoming deliveries. Anrich Nortje took on from there and sent back Shai Hope, who did not make good use of the comeback opportunity and failed due to lack of discipline outside off stump in both innings.
Kyle Mayers, who was guilty of playing an outrageously ambitious shot to get out started once again on an uncomfortable note. The story was a little different this time around but Nortje once again found the edge of his bat with the one that was slanted across him.
However, the hero of the day for the tourists was Quinton de Kock, who established his quality as a batsman in South Africa after being relinquished of the captaincy burden. He resurrected South Africa’s batting efforts with sublime strokes that have become part of his reputation at the world stage.
At first, he stitched a valuable partnership with Rassie van der Dussen to bring South Africa in the ascendency and followed it up with qualitative partnerships with every batsman coming to join him in the middle.
When he started falling short of partners, he switched to his T20 mode and smashed Windies to all corners of the ground and took the game beyond their grasp. De Kock scored a total of 141 runs in the first innings for the tourists.
South Africa are at the top of their game in this Test and it would need Windies batsmen to play out of their skin to come back in the contest. Needless to say, the task is not at all easy against an in-form trio of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and Anrich Nortje.