Kagiso Rabada’s early hostile spell and Keshav Maharaj’s hat-trick – just the second in Tests by a South African – and the eventual five-fer earned the visitors a comprehensive series sweep as West Indies folded for 165 on Day 4 in St. Lucia. West Indies began the day with a mountain to climb, and more importantly, bat out six sessions if the rains stayed away.
Those dreams washed away very quickly as they lost six wickets inside the opening session, leaving South Africa to wrap it up soon in the post-Lunch session. This is South Africa’s first away Test series win since 2017 and the first under new captain Dean Elgar.
West Indies needed defiant partnerships to drag this chase out, and showed signs of putting it together at different times. But on each of those occasions, they ended up wilting in the face of relentless pressure from South Africa, as seen in the opening session when a 70-run fourth-wicket stand full of grit and composure was followed by momentary lapses that segued into an all-too-familiar batting collapse.
The pair looked comfortable against Keshav Maharaj, while Powell was also happy to commit and cut away Nortje’s short balls, despite the risk that it brought along. He went aerial against the width offered by Nortje, but it came as a calculated risk as he targeted vacant pockets on either side of point for his shots.
The hard work from the two batsmen, lasting almost an hour in the morning session, was undone when Mayers tried to go on the offensive against the returning Rabada and paid the price. His attempt to pull a length ball outside the off-stump resulted in a top-edge that Elgar pouched running backwards. Visuals of a somber-looking Phil Simmons summed up what that dismissal – and the manner of it – meant to West Indies’ hopes of keeping their fight on.
As if on cue, Maharaj dug his heels in. The flurry of wickets in this case too came as a result of an error in judgement from the batsman. Kieran Powell, who’d just reached a well-worked half-century, went for a slog sweep off Maharaj and found the only fielder placed in the deep on the leg side. Maharaj removed Jason Holder and Joshua da Silva off the next two balls with close-in catchers to complete his hat-trick. West Indies limped into Lunch at 109 for 6, with the injured Roston Chase unlikely to bat.
It was now the turn of Jermaine Blackwood and Kemar Roach to keep South Africa on their toes as they put their hands up for the next round of mini-defiance. It lasted half the session but Lungi Ngidi made superb use of the crease to set Blackwood up with the angle and got the right-hander to prod at a ball he could’ve otherwise let go of. It took an acrobatic effort from Quinton de Kock to complete the catch, and reduce West Indies to seven – effectively eight – down. Maharaj then returned to fittingly complete the game with a fifer to his name as Roach and Jayden Seales holed out to the deep off his bowling to bring their innings to an end.
Brief scores: South Africa298 (Quinton de Kock 96, Dean Elgar 77; Kyle Mayers 3-28, Kemar Roach 3-45) & 174 (Rassie van der Dussen 75*; Kemar Roach 4-52, Kyle Mayers 3-24) beat West Indies 149 (Jermaine Blackwood 49, Shai Hope 43; Wiaan Mulder 3-1, Kagiso Rabada 2-24) & 165 (Kieran Powell 51; Keshav Maharaj 5-36, Kagiso Rabada 3-44) by 158 runs. (cricbuzz)