Proteas throw away advantage after Nortje five-for against Windies

The Proteas threw away the massive advantage given to them by Anrich Nortje, as they crashed to 49/4 in their second innings at the close of play on day two of the first Test against the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday, but still holding a strong lead of 179 runs.

Nortje picked up his fourth Test five wicket haul, finishing with figures of 5/36, to help bowl the Windies all out for 212, which gave the Proteas a strong 130-run lead after they were bowled out for 342 in the morning session.

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But despite the best efforts of Aiden Markram, who cracked an unbeaten 35 off 33 balls (6×4), to back up his first innings century, the rest of the Proteas top order fell apart spectacularly.

With them sitting pretty on 31/0 with just under 30 minutes left in the day, Dean Elgar (1) decided to get himself out in almost an identical way to in the first innings, ramping a ball from Alzarri Joseph to third man where he was caught by Raymon Reifer.

Tony de Zorzi and Temba Bavuma were both out for first ball ducks, edging balls from Kemar Roach and Joseph respectively to keeper Joshua da Silva as they slipped to 34/3.

The Windies then managed to sneak in an extra over and Jason Holder trapped Keegan Petersen (7) LBW to end the days play with the visitors believing they stand a chance of fighting back to win.

In the Windies innings a late innings collapse saw them lose their last seven wickets for 43-runs with Nortje taking four of them.

Speaking after the days play Nortje admitted that the bowlers just had to keep hitting their lines and lengths and they were eventually rewarded in the end.

“I really enjoyed it. Having a few guys on the boundary cheering us on helped and it was just so much fun,” said Nortje.

“We came back into the game quite calmly in a way. We just tried to stick to our lengths and execute. It’s not the quickest wicket, it seems to be going a bit up and down. But we just tried to stick to our lengths, build up some pressure and then took it from there.”

Batting collapse

After tea the Windies resumed their first innings on 136/3, with Raymon Reifer (62) and Roston Chase (22) at the crease.

Reifer immediately brought up his half century with a sweetly struck cover drive off Kagiso Rabada, with the two then extending their fourth wicket stand to 47-runs.

Marco Jansen then struck to start the collapse, with a jaffer finding the edge of Reifer’s bat and keeper Heinrich Klaasen doing the rest behind the stumps.

The first ball of the next over Rabada produced a similar ball to get rid of Chase, with the catch going to slip this time where Elgar did the rest, making it two in two and the Windies on 169/5.

A few overs later Nortje was back into the attack with a double strike, as Joshua da Silva cut him straight to Jansen at point, followed by him finding the edge of Jason Holder’s bat, with Markram taking the catch in the slips and the Windies in trouble on 179/7.

Kyle Mayers (18) struck a few late innings lusty blows, but Nortje had Alzarri Joseph (4) caught at point and Mayers caught at deep fine leg, both by Jansen, as they slipped to 201/9, before Gerald Coetzee had his second Test scalp trapping Shannon Gabriel (7) LBW to end the innings.

At the start of play the Proteas resumed the day on 314/8, with Jansen (23no), Coetzee (17) and Nortje (14) adding a few valuable runs to the total before Joseph picked up the last two wickets to claim a first ever Test five wicket haul, finishing with figures of 5/81.

The Windies then lost two wickets before lunch, reaching the break on 71/2, as Rabada removed opener Kraigg Brathwaite (11) with a beautiful ball that nipped back off the surface, beat his defensive guard and took the top of off stump.

Coetzee then picked up his first ever Test wicket with a vicious inswinger catching the edge of Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s (22) bat, flying to Senuran Muthusamy in the slips which left them on 58/2.

The days second session saw the Windies score just 65-runs, but losing just one wicket, Jermaine Blackwood (37) as he inside edged a Nortje delivery onto his pad, with Klaasen taking a good catch down the leg side to send him on his way.