South Africa completely outplayed West Indies and won the first Test of the two-match series by an innings and 63 runs on the back of fiery performances by all the pacers in the bowling friendly conditions in St Lucia. The South African pacers heard the clarion call by the skipper Dean Elgar before travelling on the tour and started the series with a bang. They first rattled the hosts to an abysmal 97 and followed it up with another dominating performance in the second innings and to start the Dean Elgar-era of South African cricket in Tests on a dominating note.
To make the victory even sweeter for the visitors, the wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock rediscovered his mojo after being relieved of the leadership duty, which he clearly was not thriving with. The left-hander who forms the experienced core of a rather inexperienced batting lineup played a masterful innings filled with charismatic shots and impeccable patience to deny West Indies any chance of revival in the game.
Now, the sides will now meet at the same venue but however their aspirations will be completely different. Elgar would be backing his men to ramp up their performance one more time to seal the series while Kraigg Brathwaite, who struggled with the bat in the last Test, would bank on his players to come back strongly after a spirit-deflating victory last week.
Precisely, the onus of redemption of the hosts will be on the batting lineup that could not show enough appetite and discipline to fight out the tough phase of the game.
Shai Hope, who made a return to the Test team although as an opener was too flamboyant against the quality of the South African pace attack comprising Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi. Kyle Mayers, who has emerged as the latest among the firebrand batsmen of West Indies, was too eager to play expensive shots early on his innings and the pace of Nortje turned out to be too much for him to handle on the first day.
However, Brathwaite could have taken some heart from the bowling attack which appeared testing and disciplined for the most part of the game before de Kock upped the ante and took the game away from them.
All in all, South Africa just need to stick to the basics while West Indies have a lot of work to do.
Match Details:
West Indies vs South Africa, 2nd Test
Venue: Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Date & Time: June 18th – June 22th 7:30 PM IST and 10:00 AM Local Time
Live Streaming: Fancode
Pitch Report
The track at St Lucia seems to have some bounce and carry. The batsmen might face some problems against the fast bowlers especially if there is a cloud cover. So, if you win the toss, bowl first and try to get the opposition packing quickly.
Team News
West Indies: Shannon Gabriel who had missed the first Test due to a hamstring injury has been recalled while Alzarri Joseph has been left out. Apart from this, the hosts have a new addition to the squad in the form of Darren Bravo who last featured for the side in the longer format back in December 2020 against New Zealand. Nkrumah Bonner is out of the series with concussion. He was replaced by Kieron Powell.
The batting line up might have failed to produce a good performance in the previous game but it seems to be balanced now. The application from the batsmen is the key. They just need to get their eyes in before playing the strokes.
South Africa: The visitors had a good run in the first match and Dean Elgar won’t be thinking of making any changes to the winning combination. The only concern for the South African team is their opening. The failure of Elgar is something that the team management needs to be worried about. Other than this, the bowling unit is pretty sorted and the fast bowlers have done their job in an impressive manner so far.
Probable XI
West Indies: Kraigg Braithwaite (capt), Kieran Powell, Shai Hope, Roston Chase, Kyle Mayers, Jermaine Blackwood, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt),Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Keegan Peterson, Kyle Verreynne, Quinton de Kock (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi
Fantasy XI
Quinton de Kock (c), Dean Elgar, Kraigg Brathwaite (vc), Jermaine Blackwood, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Jason Holder, Roston Chase, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Jayden Seales