Warrican’s Late Strikes Keep West Indies Competitive Against South Africa In The 1st Test
Jomel Warrican’s late strikes kept the West Indies in the match as day 2 ended with South Africa at 344/8 with fifties from Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi in the first test.
The first Test at Port-of-Spain was characterized by conservative play, with few wickets and few runs falling to either South Africa or the West Indies.
South Africa 344 for 8 (Bavuma 86, de Zorzi 78, Warrican 3-66) vs West Indies.
Opening batsman Tony de Zorzi, of South Africa, was removed for 78 before lunch and was sitting on the balcony of the change room, reading a book of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Ironic, as the dystopian scenario depicted in the novel was not at all what was happening to him. Rather, it was the same old Test cricket, as his coach Shukri Conrad had expected. What the red-ball coach from South Africa called “traditional” was what he expected to be attritional cricket in Trinidad, and that’s exactly what the teams provided.
Every South African batter who did not start was Aiden Markram. There were no hundreds, but two players—de Zorzi and captain Temba Bavuma—made half-centuries, and there were four partnerships of fifty or more. The seamers shared five wickets between them, with left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie being the only front-line West Indies bowler to give more than 3.5 runs per over. They did not constantly pose a threat to the batters, but they were disciplined for the most part of the time and occasionally threatening.
The Test is being played on a placid, very dry surface that lacks bounce or pace, both of which could be significant contributing factors. It was the kind of surface that pays off for those who are prepared to put in the work and demands patience rather than flair.
That was clear from the first exchanges, in which seasoned West Indies seamers Kemar Roach and Jason Holder were penalized for deviating from the rules and depended on great lengths to keep South Africa silent. Holder dropped it just short in the third over of the day, allowing de Zorzi to dab it behind point for the first boundary. Tristan Stubbs confidently hammered his first and last balls across the covers in the next over after Roach was a bit too full.
Although they were occasionally defeated, South Africa’s second-wicket combination had an early lead that was often easy. With 78 balls, De Zorzi reached his second Test fifty. Crucially, for de Zorzi, it’s also his first time opening in a Test match with success. At number three, Stubbs did not fare as well and did not make use of his feet when Roach angled a length ball in from beyond the crease. Stubbs surged forward with the slip cordon up, and Holder dove across from second slip to grab the catch low.
A leaden-footed Bavuma was met by a pumped Roach, who delivered a delivery that nearly kissed the bat before hitting the outside edge. Throughout that over, he kept Bavuma in the crease, but the South African captain was content to wait. It took Bavuma ten balls to score his maiden runs, but he did so with assurance. In order to reach 3000 runs in Test cricket, he stepped down the pitch and smashed Motie over his head for two runs.
Any aggression came from de Zorzi, but Bavuma’s approach remained cautious, which makes sense given that this was his first Test innings since March 2023. He took the initiative to reverse-sweep Motie to reach 70 points after turning an attempted drive off Jayden Seales into a slice over point. De Zorzi would have been aiming for his first century with a maximum score of 85, which he also achieved against the West Indies. However, he ruined himself with a second reverse sweep from Jomel Warrican and gloved it to Kavem Hodge at slip, 12 minutes before lunch.
Following the interval, Bavuma once more let go and let his teammate, David Bedingham, lead the battle into the West Indies. Bedingham demonstrated his brilliance by double-stepping down the track to club Warrican over long-on and then waiting for a Seales delivery to late-cut it for four, building on his five hundreds in eight matches in the County Championship.
Bavuma, who advanced down to hit Warrican for four, got his first boundary in 48 balls as a result of this haste. However, he instantly retreated inside himself after Hodge nearly caught a lift off Seales at square leg. Rather, Bedingham succumbed to the lure. Seales got his maiden Test wicket at his home ground when he was despatched to deep square leg by him because he was unable to hold him down. Keacy Carty, making his debut, made the catch by diving forward.
With a brilliant cover drive to start the innings, Ryan Rickelton looked on as Bavuma completed his 21st Test fifty off 123 balls. Rickelton was a risk-taker who returned a full toss from Warrican, but the left-arm spinner was unable to hold on. Fortunately, West Indies did not incur too much damage from the decline. After adding 11 more runs to his total, Rickelton was outfielded by Roach on a double play.
At that point, Bavuma was on 80 and had only one recognized batter, Kyle Verreynne, to help him chase a century. Verreynne faced the first twenty balls of their partnership, which included a beamer from Seales that appeared to cause no harm but struck him in the left glove.
After that, Bavuma made it through a West Indies review for a leg-before-bowl off Holder that was deemed too high by the umpire. However, Bavuma lost focus when Seales bowled a full toss after two and a half overs. He failed to make the flick, took a blow to the shins, and passed out. He was persuaded to review by Verreynne, but only with optimism. Without scoring his first Test century away from home, his second against the West Indies, or his third career century, he was forced to depart.
West Indies had a chance to go through South Africa’s lower order at 271 for 6. They frustrated the normally aggressive Verreynne and Wiaan Mulder by giving up just 20 runs in 12 overs, but the pair remained steady, and when the West Indies wore out, they profited. However, Warrican scored two runs in two balls right as they were beginning to back off.
He accepted a straightforward redeeming return catch from Verreynne. Keshav Maharaj then chipped one back to him, requiring a two-handed dive, but Warrican also completed it, putting South Africa in danger of scoring less than 350.
They were brought to the verge of it by Mulder and Kagiso Rabada, and on the third day, they will be looking a little closer.
