Kemar Roach ran through South Africa on the third morning to bowl them out for 116, their lowest Test score against the West Indies, but the 246-run lead conceded by the visitors could prove decisive on a challenging surface in Centurion.
In a fast moving opening session that saw seven wickets fall, Jason Holder delivered the opening blow by eliciting a flashy drive from Heinrich Klaasen in the third over of the day. Following up, Roach struck with his first ball, bowling a peach that straightened to take the edge and ended Aiden Markram’s fluent innings on 47 off 58. And once he had that early wicket, the fast bowler was unstoppable. Roach went on to pick two wickets in two overs as Marco Jansen defended past another jaffa and lost his off-stump.
On the other side of the drinks break, Shannon Gabriel got Senruan Muthusamy caught off his glove down the legside. Gerald Coetzee played a few shots during his innings of 20 off 15 but was outwitted by Roach when he came down the wicket and top-edged a bouncer to the keeper. That was Roach’s fourth wicket, his fifth coming in the form of an outside edge from Anrich Nortje.
On the stroke of Lunch, Kraigg Brathwaite was strangled down the leg-side in West Indies’s rocky start to the run-chase.
Brief Scores: South Africa 342 & 116 (Markram 47; Roach 5-47) lead West Indies 212 & 0/1 (Roach 1-0) by 246 runs.
