A Blazing half-century from Dale Steyn and twin strikes from Morne Morkel with minutes to go for tea put South Africa firmly in control of the second Test, wrenching away whatever initiative West Indies had gained on an otherwise promising third day. At tea, West Indies trailed by 358 runs with eight wickets in hand.
Rain allowed only six overs on day two and a wet outfield further delayed the start of day three, but the Test match moved quickly once play resumed, with West Indies scything through South Africa's middle order before Steyn hastened the declaration with a 28-ball 58. Starting with Faf du Plessis' dismissal on the second morning, South Africa lost five wickets for 74 runs, in rain-freshened conditions that the seamers exploited with some probing bowling. Steyn launched a breathtaking counterattack thereafter, and South Africa declared after tonking 48 runs in five overs after lunch.
West Indies began solidly in reply, moving past 50 without loss before Morkel arrived to ruin the taste of their tea. Coming on as first change, Morkel hit Devon Smith on the side of the helmet with a bouncer in his second over, but otherwise stuck to a fullish length, angling the ball into the left-hander from around the wicket and getting a couple to seam away. Smith, front foot striding hesitantly to the ball, poked at one of them and edged a catch to first slip. Morkel then suckered Leon Johnson, another left-hander, into driving away from his body at an even fuller ball and du Plessis at third slip took an excellent low catch.
Those two balls from Morkel mirrored the impact Steyn had made at the start of the second session. Clearing his front leg against Jerome Taylor and stepping confidently down the track to Sulieman Benn, he freed his arms and struck the ball with ferocious power. He swatted Taylor for two big sixes either side of a clanging drive down the ground for four, before taking a painful blow on the left forearm at the non-striker's end when Vernon Philander attempted to partake of the fun with a meaty straight hit. That didn't hamper Steyn in any way, though, as he carved Benn for a four and two big sixes in the arc between extra cover and long-off, before holing out attempting another big hit. Hashim Amla declared as soon as Jason Holder wrapped his hands around the ball at long-on.
Till that blitz, it had been West Indies' morning. There are few more daunting sights for a bowling side at 289 for 3 than Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers walking out to bat, but the seamers found help from the atmosphere and the pitch to dismiss both in the space of seven balls. Amla struck two trademark fours off Taylor in the first over of the morning - a forcing shot off the back foot and a whip off the pads - but Holder brushed away the ominous signs with a ball that nipped back to get him lbw. There seemed to be doubts over the line of impact and the height, but Amla was shown to be right not to review, with Hawkeye saying umpire's call on both counts.
In the next over, Taylor produced the ball of the Test match. It was set up by the ball before, which angled in sharply towards de Villiers and struck him on the pad as he looked to work it into the leg side. The umpire ruled not out, West Indies reviewed, and Hawkeye showed it to be shaving leg stump, not enough of it to overturn the umpire's decision. The next ball followed a similar trajectory three-fourths of its way to the batsman, angling in towards middle and off stump, but veered away late in the air, sneaked past the closed face of de Villiers' bat, and crashed into off stump.
South Africa had lost their three best batsmen for the addition of 30 runs and a dominant position had slipped away to a large extent. Into this situation were thrust Temba Bavuma, on debut, and Stiaan van Zyl, with one Test behind him. Taylor and Holder put them through quite an examination, finding both their edges and seeing three fours run away through gaps in an arguably undermanned slip cordon. Holder then nipped one back and had a big lbw shout turned down when Bavuma shouldered arms - again the umpire's call aspect of DRS saved the batsman.
West Indies then made the customary double change, and Shannon Gabriel struck in his second over. Before the Test began, Bavuma had suggested with surprising candour that his lack of height could be a disadvantage on bouncy pitches, and Gabriel produced a lifter that few batsmen could have done anything about. It followed Bavuma even as he tried to sway out of the way, and was too quick for him to drop his hands and prevent a scrape of glove through to the keeper.
Kenroy Peters then completed a morning where every West Indian seamer picked up a wicket. Van Zyl sliced and drove the left-armer for two fours in three balls, and it was evident he would keep going after anything outside off stump. He sent the fifth ball rolling to the keeper off the inside edge, and then, chasing away from his body again, nicked the sixth to the keeper.
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