Lara Saves Follow-On

It was a gripping day of Test cricket, a day in which the tide both ebbed and flowed for the West Indies, and one man stood above the rest, quite possibly saving his team from a defeat in this match.

Resuming on 87 for 1, West Indian fortunes sagged as first Ramnaresh Sarwan and then Daren Ganga fell as the South Africans applied the pressure to the clearly out of touch young batsmen. With the score on 141 for 3, veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul joined his captain in the middle and returned to his old role as sheet anchor, while Lara set about building his first ton against the South Africans.

Lara stroked and pulled and cut, while Chanderpaul remained firm like Rock of Gibraltar at the other end, letting the master batsman take charge. Chanderpaul took almost three hours to score his 34 before losing his wicket to Makhaya Ntini but his score belies the value of his innings to the team and to Lara.

After Ridley Jacobs' brief appearance and departure Vasbert Drakes appeared to steady the ship, but showed no inclination to simply stay and hold off the bowlers. Lara gave him his fair share of the bowling, and Drakes took this as licence to go after the ball, making a useful 21 before a Kallis inswinger found him wanting.

All the while Lara stood tall at the other end, taking his blows and meting out some punishment of his own. When Mervyn Dillon came out the South Africans must have sensed an opportunity with the West Indies still 48 runs away from the follow on. Lara was having none of it, and farmed the strike when he could, taking on the bowling and easing the ship slowly into the berth.

Then, in the penultimate over, when lesser men would be looking to bat out the day, Lara switched gears and set about taking another Test record to replace the one he recently lost. The hapless Robin Peterson, appearing in just his fourth Test, could only watch in frustration as Lara smashed his first delivery to the point boundary for four. The second delivery sailed over the long on boundary for six, followed soon after by the third. Peterson must have been wondering what to bowl to Lara at this point, but his choices where clearly wrong as the next three deliveries all pierced the boundary for four, giving Lara 28 runs in the over, and surpassing Craig McMillan for the highest score in an over of Test cricket.

In a single over Lara saved the follow on, set a record, and reminded South Africa that he is no one to be trifled with. Unlike many cricketers, Lara seems to save his best performances for when it really matters.

With two days left to play, and facing prospect of batting last on a wearing pitch, the West Indies tailenders must dig deep and bat through as much of tomorrow as possible to make sure Lara's efforts are not in vain. While there is no possibility of a win here for the West Indies, a draw would be almost as good for morale and would take away the ugly spectre of another whitewash here.