No bat-bone Again

There are several words appropriate to describe the West Indies batting on the second day of the fourth Test that has condemned them to a colossal struggle over the remaining three days.

Careless, senseless, absurd, indisciplined and unprofessional are a few that come to mind and none does an injustice to those concerned. There were others freely used around the ground, and even in the media centre, equally to the point but unprintable on a Sunday morning.

After restricting South Africa to a modest first innings 247, the West Indies had a wonderful chance of building the significant first innings lead they needed, having to bat last on a bare pitch still in basically good condition but surely to deteriorate as the match progresses.

Instead, they handed the initiative back to South Africa with a succession of unsuitable attacking shots against disciplined bowling and dazzling fielding.

They finished the day tottering at 130 for six with captain Carl Hooper and his deputy Ridley Jacobs the last of the accredited batsmen to resume this morning and only three bowlers to come.

None of the dismissals was more wretched than Ramnaresh Sarwan's hook off Jacques Kallis that precisely found Nicky Boje at square-leg three-quarter way to the boundary.

Sarwan was 25 and involved in a promising, restorative partnership of 38 for the fourth wicket with the solid Shivnarine Chanderpaul when Kallis returned for a second spell.

The warning lights should have been flashing as soon as the spirited South African all-rounder marked out his run.

Sarwan's mind should have immediately triggered the memory of his dismissal at a critical stage of the second Test in Port-of-Spain when he fell for the trap and hooked the third bouncer of an over for a catch to square-leg.

Surely Kallis could not believe the young tyro would be conned by the same ruse again. Apparently not.

He bounced his first ball and, so true, again Sarwan took the bait. His hook shot just cleared Boje alongside the umpire at square-leg on its way to the boundary.

Kallis pounded his second ball into the pitch but it sailed over Sarwan's back through to wicket-keeper Mark Boucher.

Undeterred, Kallis set Boje the very man who had caught Sarwan in Port-of-Spain a few yards deeper and bounced again. Once more, Sarwan hooked and deposited the catch into the fielder's waiting lap.

Schoolboys have been put in detention and given hundreds of line for such foolishness.

Sarwan is only 20 and a batsman of rare talent who is capable of dominating the West Indies middle-order through the first decade of the 21st century. But he will not do so unless he matches his ability with cricketing intelligence.

The same is true of all the young, obviously gifted batsmen who have graduated into the Test team in the past year. Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds, the left-handed openers, once more revealed a similar innocence.

The West Indies had done well to restrict South Africa to 247 in their first innings, even though it represented a recovery from 148 for seven just before tea on the first day.

They took an hour and 35 minutes to finish off the innings that had resumed at 210 for seven, but then faltered in the second session, losing Gayle, Hinds and Brian Lara cheaply, all to attacking shots.

They would have been in further trouble but for a no-ball by Justin Kemp that negated a catch to first slip before Sarwan had scored.

The South Africans have decided to feed Gayle on his strength outside off-stump, prepared to swap a few boundaries for his wicket. For the sixth time in seven innings, he was caught off the outside edge in the tenth over, slicing a loose drive high to Shaun Pollock at gully off Kallis, using the new ball in place of the absent, injured Alan Donald.

Eight runs later, Hinds touched an extravagant cut off Pollock to wicket-keeper Boucher.

Lara, struggling to regain the touch that made him the most devastating batsman in the game, played a couple of vintage strokes in 19, including an off-driven four and a deliberate cut for six off Makaha Ntini.

He then drove away from his body at the tall medium-paced Justin Kemp, playing his first Test of the series, and Neil McKenzie leapt to his left to pull in a two-handed catch at extra-cover.

The West Indies seemed on course to recovery as Chanderpaul and Sarwan settled after unsteady beginnings. The scoring was always measured against steady bowling and sharp fielding, but they were asserting themselves when Sarwan surrendered his wicket.

Chanderpaul and Hooper calmed nerves in the stands with flawless batting that brought them 38 runs in an hour. Close of play was only 12 minutes, or 2.4 overs away, when Kemp struck another key blow for South Africa.

Chanderpaul drove him peerlessly through the covers for his fifth boundary one ball and, going for a repeat the next that was a little wider, edged low to Daryll Cullinan at first slip.

Chanderpaul had played with his usual solidity for three-and-a-half hours for his 40. His dismissal surprisingly brought a nightwatchman in bright sunshine, Merv Dillon preferred to Dinanath Ramnarine who had previously done the job. Dillon didn't do his, missing a straight ball from Lance Klusener that hit his off-stump.

It was a disappointing end to a day of such promise.

On Friday, the West Indies' new strategy of boosting their spin bowling had paid off with left-armer Neil McGarrell claiming four of the seven wickets.

Yesterday, normal service was resumed as the remaining wickets fell to pace.

Courtney Walsh ended the partnership of 75 between Pollock and Boje that had steadied South Africa at 147 for seven on the first afternoon, and Merv Dillon rounded off the innings with two wickets with successive balls, hitting the off-stumps of Kemp and Ntini for his 50th wicket after 15 Tests.

For the fourth time in the series, Pollock ran out of partners to finish unbeaten 48. South Africa seemed to have made too few at the time.

Five hours later, their 247 loomed as a mountain for the West Indies.