De Villiers hundred gives SA slight edge

Sun, Jan 4, '15

AB de Villiers produced the outstanding innings that the Cape Town Test craved, but even his redoubtable efforts have yet to shake off West Indies. Facing a first-innings deficit of 92 runs at tea on the third day, they battled doggedly to clip that deficit to four runs by the close of the day. Eight wickets still stand. It has been a respectable effort.

If one leading bookmaker regarded West Indies as 12-1 outsiders at change of innings, it owed as much to the perceived imbalance between these two sides as the state of the game. Those odds had tightened markedly by the close. If this dry, cracked surface deteriorates at the right time for West Indies, they are still in this game. As yet, despite occasional uneven bounce and some slow turn, it is biding its time.