Keshav Maharaj (3 for 45) was the star of the show on Day 3 as the wily left-arm spinner used the conditions beautifully in Trinidad to keep the Test match in the balance. The West Indies quickly wrapped up South Africa’s proceedings with the bat before showing the grit to hang in there, on a slow surface which will only deteriorate further. Keacy Carty (42) looked positive while Kraigg Brathwaite (35) and Mikyle Louis (35) showed tenacity against the South Africans. Constant rain interruptions meant only 71.4 overs could be bowled.
Keshav Maharaj bowled 28 overs unchanged from the Media Centre End, albeit with weather-related interruptions, as South Africa frustrated West Indies on the third day of a rain-affected Test. The squeeze only brought four wickets, and with 90 minutes lost in the day and more rain on the way, the chances of victory for either side seems slim, but South Africa will consider themselves as having the upper hand.
West Indies openers denied South Africans wickets before Tea session
Kagiso Rabada started the day’s play with two boundaries off Jayden Seales but West Indies continued right from where they left off on Day 2. Rabada played for the turn off Jomel Warrican, which held it’s line and a faint edge found the keeper. Seales came back to send Ngidi’s off-stump for a cartwheel as South Africa were bowled out for 357 in 117.4 overs.
Brathwaite and Louis bided their time and took advantage of any loose deliveries. Keshav Maharaj came on post the drinks break, producing an edge off Brathwaite which was spilled at first slip by Aiden Markram. The openers soon brought up the 50-run stand. Keshav Maharaj slipped an arm-ball through the gate of Louis, on the last ball before Tea, breaking a resilient partnership.
Batting has been labored so far and the early signs on the third morning were that it would become even more difficult. The second ball, from Jayden Seales, kept low and Wiaan Mulder was fortunate that it did not seam back in enough to take out off stump.
Still, South Africa seemed to have a clear directive to score quickly and Kagiso Rabada led the charge. He flicked Seales through backward square leg and then attempted a drive but edged wide of second slip in a productive over. His intent did not last long. Rabada faced five more balls before Jomel Warrican found the edge and Joshua Da Silva did the rest. Seales finished off when he bowled Lungi Ngidi six balls later to end South Africa’s innings 20 minutes into the session. They added just 13 runs to their overnight score.
West Indies were in the field for 117.4 overs and would have had enough time to know that batting would be tough especially against South Africa’s best. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi shared the new ball and had different but equally testing questions for the openers. Rabada kept it full, Ngidi was more back of a length, and West Indies managed only 23 runs in their first ten overs. Mulder, playing as the third seamer, replaced Ngidi but when Rabada’s spell ended, South Africa were forced to turn to spin early.
Keshav Maharaj’s 28-over spell applies squeeze on West Indies on rain-affected day
The rain came down just before the third session resumed, delaying the restart by 90 minutes. Debutant Keacy Carty came in to bat, who along with Brathwaite hung in there and occupied the crease. Brathwaite smoked Keshav Maharaj for a six over his head to keep the scoreboard ticking. Carty followed suit nicely scoring a boundary through third man off the left-arm spinner.
West Indies continued to score at merely 2 runs per over, thereby not inflicting the pressure back on the South Africans. Carty survived a run-out chance and was also put down by Tristan Stubbs, a difficult chance where the fielder had to run back but grasped it.
Brathwaite who hung in there for so long, was undone by not sliding his bat in time at the bowler’s end just before the tea break. Carty continued to play his shots. He pulled Ngidi for four immediately after tea. Keshav Maharaj came storming back in the next over. He deceived Carty with the arm ball, catching him flush on the pads and ending his debut innings eight short of 50.
This prompted Temba Bavuma to turn to Markram at the other end, which almost worked immediately but Kyle Verreynne couldn’t hang on to the edge off Kavem Hodge.
Keshav Maharaj used the conditions beautifully. He crept doubt into Alick Athanaze’s mind as he got one ball to turn and the second not to. The third didn’t turn either and this found the outside edge, straight to Markram at slip. Jason Holder and Hodge gritted it out in the closing stages of Day 3 to stumps with the West Indies trailing by 212 runs.
Keshav Maharaj was given the ball in the 13th over and came close to an early breakthrough. In his second over, Maharaj drew Kraigg Brathwaite forward and induced the edge, which lobbed low but carried to Aiden Markram at slip. However, he could not hold on. Brathwaite was on 7 off 43 balls at the time. Brathwaite went on to cut Keshav Maharaj through point for his first four but, much like South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma on day two, was content to spend time at the crease and let the runs come from the other end.
Mikyle Louis was more proactive, particularly through the covers, with four of his five boundaries coming in that region. He hit the single that took West Indies to fifty which was also the fourth half-century opening stand between him and Brathwaite in three Tests and helped West Indies nearly get through the session unscathed. But, the ball before lunch, Louis played for turn to a Maharaj arm ball and was bowled
Play was delayed for 55 minutes after the scheduled second-session restart, but one over later, rain forced another 20-minute break. The interruptions had no effect on Brathwaite’s concentration as he hit Keshav Maharaj for six three overs into the second session, but left it to Keacy Carty to do most of the attacking. On debut, Carty impressed with his assuredness and played the shot of the day when he got up on his toes to punch Rabada behind point for four.
With their options limited to four frontline bowlers, South Africa had to keep Keshav Maharaj at one end – and he kept Brathwaite quiet for a period in which the West Indian captain scored just 6 runs off 37 balls from him – and rotate through the three seamers and matters became pedestrian. None of them looked like taking a wicket but a chance came in the field when Carty, on 28, defended a Mulder ball to point and took off a run but had Ryan Rickelton to contend with.
Carty turned back and if Rickleton’s throw was accurate he would have been caught short of his ground but the ball went wide and Carty batted on. Three overs later, Carty was on 32 and hit Keshav Maharaj aerially to cover. Tristan Stubbs ran back to take the catch over his shoulder but misjudged and spilled it.
Just when South Africa may have become disheartened, a sedate Brathwaite hit Ngidi to Mulder at mid-on and ran for the single but a direct hit found him on the line and out on the stroke of tea. Brathwaite’s 35 runs took 131 balls, and he maintains the lowest strike rate among batters who have scored 5,000 Test runs since 2001. With the interval, came the rain and there was a further 35 minute delay before the start of the last session.
Seven balls into the evening, a Keshav Maharaj ball ended Carty’s debut innings as it skidded and struck him on the front pad. Aiden Markram, operating as South Africa’s second spinner, could have had another five overs later when Kavem Hodge, on 3, edged but Kyle Verreynne did not react quickly enough to hold on.
Instead, Markram was the fielder when Keshav Maharaj struck again in the next over. Alick Athanaze edged an arm ball to Markram at slip. Markram and Keshav Maharaj bowled out most of the rest of the session, apart from a final late burst by Rabada, who could not remove either Hodge or Jason Holder.
Road Ahead for South Africa and West Indies on Day 4
West Indies are 212 runs behind on a slow, dry pitch, and runs continue to be hard to come by. South Africa only added 13 runs to their overnight score but managed their highest first innings total in nine away Tests since Christchurch 2022 but needed quick wickets to make it count. They were blunted by the West Indies’ line-up and committed a few lapses in the field on a surface unsuited to urgency.