Captain Bavuma slams century to put Proteas well on top of Windies

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma slammed a second ever Test century, to power the Proteas into a winning position on day three of the second Test against the West Indies on Friday afternoon.

Bavuma reached his century in style in the days final session, smashing a wide delivery from Alzarri Joseph over cover for four, with the Proteas well in charge on 185/5, holding an overall lead of 254 over the Windies.

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Bavuma is known as the nearly man and has faced criticism previously for not being able to convert his good scores, with him having scored just one century along with 20 half centuries in 95 innings before this match.

Wiaan Mulder (30no) played an integral role in helping Bavuma reach the milestone, after he came to the crease with the Proteas in a bit of trouble on 103/5 after lunch, and helped his captain while sharing in an unbeaten 82-run stand.

Both batters will now look to cash in, in the late afternoon and try get enough of a lead that they can put the Windies into bat before the close of play.

Early trouble

At the start of play the Proteas started the day with an overall lead of 73 and on 4/0 in their second innings, with Dean Elgar (5) and Aiden Markram (18) at the crease, but they were soon early trouble after three quick wickets.

Kyle Mayers had Elgar caught at gully by Roston Chase and then bowled Tony de Zorzi (1) off an inside edge after the batter seemed unsure whether to play or leave.

The in-form Markram then edged Kemar Roach to keeper Joshua da Silva, leaving the Proteas in a spot of bother on 32/3.

Bavuma and Ryan Rickelton (10) tried to take their side safely to lunch with a 37-run stand, only for Rickelton chase a wide delivery from Raymon Reifer and edge to the keeper, leaving Bavuma unbeaten on 35 at the break and the Proteas on 69/4.

In the post lunch session Bavuma was joined by Heinrich Klaasen (14) and they combined for a 34-run fifth wicket partnership before Klaasen tried to pull a short ball from Alzarri Joseph, only to get a big top edge, with keeper Da Silva running around to the leg side and taking a good catch.

This brought Mulder and along with Bavuma they batted the Proteas into a position of dominance.