Great chance for West Indies to recover some pride

The West Indies have put themselves into an almost impregnable position and with a tremendous opportunity to pull back some pride.

Their first objective on day three was to bat through the day which has been achieved. Now, all they have to do is to get another 50 runs, and then let the faster bowlers and Dininath Ramnarine at South Africa. Courtney Walsh may still get his chance to end, as he started, with a win.

At 126-5, an overall lead of just 210, the West Indies were still in some trouble as South Africa dismissed Leon Garrick, Shiv Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Chris Gayle and Carl Hooper. Had the rest of the West Indian batting capitulated then, South Africa would have had all of two days to get maybe 300. Now, the equation is slightly changed.

Then 20-year-old Marlon Samuels played with tremendous maturity and poise to steady the West Indies with a polished 59, his second Test half-century, including nine glorious fours. He put on 58 with Ridley Jacobs, who is still not out with a pugnacious, probably match-winning 67, including seven fours, his seventh Test half-century. Jacobs hardly played any defensive strokes at all, hustling the South Africans against their rhythm.

Jacobs also put on 45 with fast bowler Merv Dillon for the seventh wicket as the West Indies recovered, thus confirming my original point that Dillon could become a good late order batsman for the West Indies.

Shaun Pollock persevered well to have 3-56 from 26 overs, while there was one wicket each for Allan Donald, Justin Kemp, Jacques Kallis and Paul Adams. However, with the second new ball already taken and the West Indies having faced 107 overs overall, it must be a question mark against Pollock that he only used Lance Klusener for five overs.

With the pitch still playing very well, and the West Indies scoring 218 on the third day, South Africa's renowned batting line-up, with eight of the first nine batsmen having Test centuries to their names, would have to bat tremendously well for the visitors to go unbeaten in the Test series. I would suggest, though, that this game is far from finished.