January 07, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 27, 1428

CAPE TOWN, Jan 6: South African captain Graeme Smith blasted 85 off 79 balls to take his team to a seven-wicket win on the fourth day of the second Test against the West Indies at Newlands on Saturday (also partially reported in Sunday’s edition).

Smith’s innings enabled South Africa to square the series with one match to play.

Smith praised the character of his team. “It was a hard-fought Test match. Being 1-0 down made it really tough but the boys stood up again and showed a lot of heart.”

Victory with a day to spare seemed unlikely after a heroic effort by West Indian skipper Chris Gayle extended his team’s innings until tea and left South Africa needing 185 to win.

But Smith and A.B. de Villiers got the innings off to a flying start with an opening stand of 57 in nine overs and the tempo was maintained as Hashim Amla helped Smith add 83 in 17 overs for the second wicket.

Amla and Smith were out in successive overs to leg-spinner Rawl Lewis but Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince took South Africa home 3.2 overs into the final eight after the extra half hour was claimed to achieve a result.

Gayle batted with a broken left thumb and shared a last wicket partnership of 70 runs with Shivnarine Chanderpaul that kept the West Indies’ hopes alive before Smith’s assault.

Gayle said X-rays showed a crack right around his thumb just above the joint.

“It’s not looking good,” he said of his prospects of playing in the deciding match in Durban, starting on Thursday.

Gayle praised his players. “It was a good Test match, even though we lost,” he said.

“We lost one of our strike bowlers in Fidel Edwards but the guys put their hands up. We are still in with a chance in the series.”

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES (1st Innings) 243 (S. Chanderpaul 65 not out, M.N. Samuels 51; D.W. Steyn 4-60).

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 321 (A.G. Prince 98, M.V. Boucher 59; D.J. Bravo 4-82).

WEST INDIES (2nd Innings) 262 (S. Chanderpaul 70 not out; D.W. Steyn 4-44).

SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings):

G.C. Smith c Gayle b Lewis 85

A.B. de Villiers c sub b Bravo 23

H.M. Amla c Gayle b Lewis 37

J.H. Kallis not out 22

A.G. Prince not out 12

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-1, NB-1) 7

TOTAL (for three wkts, 35.2 overs) 186

FALL OF WKTS: 1-57, 2-140, 3-152.

BOWLING: Powell 11-0-57-0 (1w); Taylor 6-0-31-0; Bravo 7-0-34-1; Samuels 3-0-17-0; Lewis 8.2-0-42-2 (1nb).

RESULT: South Africa won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: S.J.A. Taufel (Australia) and R.B. Tiffin (Zimbabwe).

TV UMPIRE: M. Erasmus (South Africa).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ashwell Prince.

FIRST TEST: Port Elizabeth, West Indies won by 128 runs.

THIRD TEST: Durban, Jan 10-14.—AFP