da dobrowin： As the curtain is gradually drawn on the great career of Courtney Walsh, acompelling Test match is also drawing to an intriguing close at Sabina Park
Marcus Prior22-Apr-2001As the curtain is gradually drawn on the great career of Courtney Walsh, acompelling Test match is also drawing to an intriguing close at Sabina Park.It should surely be beyond South Africa to win this match, as they chase 386to win – what would be the third highest fourth innings score to win in Testhistory.By the close of a day on which 72 minutes were lost to rain on a dampKingston carnival Sunday, South Africa had knocked off 140 of the runs forthe loss of three wickets – still requiring another 246 for victory – withthe not out batsmen Neil McKenzie on 40, and Jacques Kallis 5. It will takesomething very special indeed on the final day.Walsh made sure the big Sunday crowd could let their hair down in style,with the prized wicket of Daryll Cullinan (18), the batsman adjudgedleg-before to an in-swinger. First impressions from television replays werethat Cullinan hit the ball, but magnification by the producers confirmedthat umpire Steve Bucknor was absolutely spot on.Walsh was not so happy shortly before the close when a huge appeal forleg-before against McKenzie (40 at the time) was turned down by Bucknor.McKenzie earlier survived an equally concerted appeal also for lbw to CarlHooper.Gary Kirsten (14) has had a desperate run since scoring 150 in his firstinnings of the series in Guyana, and despite a compact, tidy start wasundone by a delivery from first-change Mervyn Dillon. Looking to leave itwell alone, Kirsten saw the ball leap off a length and brush his inside edgeas he held the bat horizontal to the ground.The departure of his opening partner was the cue for Herschelle Gibbs(51) to demonstrate the kind of strokeplay which sees him averaging over 50for the series. He was particularly murderous on Dillon, smashing himfor two consecutive boundaries through the on-side, but a square cut offWalsh was the kind of cavalier extravagance normally associated with WestIndian opponents of yesteryear.It was not to last though, as shortly after reaching his half-century,Gibbs aimed a slog-sweep at Hooper, missed and was bowled. He faced 120balls and struck five fours.Earlier, Walsh made an emotional final walk to the wicket in Testcricket as the West Indies built on their mountainous second innings lead.Coming in athis customary number 11, Walsh received a standing ovation from his homefans and a guard of honour from the South African players as he approachedthe middle.Every ball he kept out was rapturously received by a partisan crowd,enjoying every moment in the middle from the only man ever to take 500 testwickets.When Walsh fell slogging at Paul Adams for three, the West Indies wereall out for 301 on the stroke of lunch, Cameron Cuffy remaining unbeaten on13.Ridley Jacobs did more than anyone to make sure the South Africans haveonly the faintest glimmer of a chance of winning the match and the series3-0. Jacobs rotated the strike intelligently in the morning session tomove to 85 off 191 balls, including seven boundaries, before he mis-timedhis favourite hook shot and was comfortably taken by McKenzie in the deep.Dinanath Ramnarine lasted just three balls after the resumption,although his departure was cause for controversy over what constitutes a’fair catch’. Ramnarine clearly edged Pollock to Cullinan at firstslip, who took a clean catch, but then threw the ball in the air as hestaggered backwards and groped at and fumbled the ball as it came back down.Ramnarine stood his ground, waiting for a decision from umpire SrinivasVenkataraghavan, who duly sent him on his way. Law 32.3 states that a catchshall be considered fairly made if ‘the fielder obtains complete controlboth over the ball and (crucially, in this instance) over his own movement’.In other words, the catch was only half completed.