West Indies v South Africa - Fifth Test

Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

WI: CG Greenidge, DL Haynes, GA Headley, IVA Richards, CH Lloyd, *G StA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MD Marshall, MA Holding, J Garner, CA Walsh.
SAF: BA Richards, *TL Goddard, B Mitchell, RG Pollock, AD Nourse, DJ Cullinan, +DT Lindsay, PM Pollock, HJ Tayfield, AA Donald, NAT Adcock.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: RG Gosein & HBD Jordan
Toss: South Africa

With the series result decided, reputations and pride were the commodities on the line in Jamaica, and South Africa dropped a bombshell before play began by dropping Mike Procter for the first time in his ATG career, although if truth be told Procter's lack of recent form made this a sound cricketing decision.

Another seemingly sound decision was Trevor Goddard's insertion of West Indies upon winning his fourth toss out of five, for within four overs the home side had lost both openers for ducks and were reeling at 1-2. Headley's dismissal for 13 then made the score 37-3, and South Africa's seamers were making full use of a pitch that retained a greenish hue despite the day's increasingly blistering heat.

Clive Lloyd should have been given out lbw for 11 by umpire Gosein shortly after lunch, but Donald's raucous appeal fell on deaf ears, and rather than stumbling to what would have been a calamitous 64-4, West Indies launched a counter-assault that brought the South Africans to their collective knees. Lloyd went on the rampage after his reprieve, and with Richards he helped construct a record breaking fourth wicket stand. Both batsmen powered their way to centuries on an ever-flattening wicket - Lloyd off 127 balls and Richards off 132 balls -and when Richards fell lbw to Peter Pollock shortly before the close, the pair had put on an astonishing 314 in little over four hours, West Indies' third highest stand for any wicket. Richards share was 176, an innings that brought him level with Don Bradman on 18 ATG hundreds, and stumps were drawn with West Indies sitting pretty on 358-4 off 82 overs, a remarkable comeback from 1-2.

Lloyd eventually went for a career best 170 as West Indies continued their onslaught on day two, but a commendable effort from Trevor Goddard eventually limited the hosts' final total to 496, with South Africa's skipper claiming the last five wickets to fall as the Springboks clawed back a modicum of respectability. Neil Adcock (2-66 off 28 overs) apart though, South Africa had simply not bowled well enough, and the tourists' problems were compounded as West Indies struck at regular intervals to reduce their reply to 147-6 midway through the third afternoon.

However, with the follow on now looking inevitable, Denis Lindsay set about playing one of the most audacious innings yet seen in ATG cricket, and over the course of the next three hours he blitzed his way to a stunning maiden century that dragged South Africa back into the game. He eventually played on against Garner having made 104, an innings studded with ten fours and four huge sixes, and although the last pair of Donald and Adcock couldn't nudge the Springboks past the follow on target, a statement of defiance had been made.

South Africa's total of 283 saw them asked to follow on 204 behind, but rather than fold as they had done in Antigua, Lindsay's example led to a stirring fight back over the course of the final two days. Richards and Goddard set the tone with a sprightly stand of 87 for the first wicket, and with the hosts' attack at last looking human, all of South Africa's top order made runs as the prospect of a fourth defeat in the series became ever more distant. Fifties from Richards and Pollock were trumped by Nourse's first hundred in ten Tests, and when Nourse's dismissal offered West Indies the possibility of an opening, Cullinan and Lindsay slammed the door shut with an unbroken stand of 106 for the seventh wicket, a Springbok record.

With the scoreboard reading 440-6, Goddard eventually called a close at tea on the final day, and with West Indies requiring an impossible 228 for victory the game meandered to a draw, a result that would be of far greater value to South Africa than it would to West Indies. Denis Lindsay was named man of the match for his rousing first innings century, but the dominance of West Indies' bowlers over the course of the first four Tests had already ensured a deserved series victory for the home side, and West Indies now move up to fourth and just two points behind South Africa in the ranking table, as season four of ATG cricket comes to a close.

Scores
WI 1st Inns 496 (IVA Richards 176, Lloyd 170, Sobers 43*; Goddard 5-111)
SAF 1st Inns 283 (Lindsay 104, Mitchell 65, BA Richards 43)
SAF 2nd Inns 440-6 dec. (Nourse 100, RG Pollock 77, Cullinan 61*, BA Richards 57, Lindsay 50*)
WI 2nd Inns 57-2

MATCH DRAWN

Man of the Match: DT Lindsay