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HEADLINE: West Indies hit back after Markram, de Zorzi fifties

 
CaribbeanCricket.com 2023-03-08 16:24:23 

Aiden Markram and Tony de Zorzi fell short of their hundreds as West Indies roared back into the game through Gudakesh Motie, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers after tea on an atypically dry Wanderers pitch. Motie, the left-arm fingerspinner, dismissed both the set batters to weaken the strong foundation they had laid earlier in the day. From 248 for 2, South Africa suddenly slid to 311 for 7 at stumps.
 
When Markram was in supreme control, South Africa were rattling along at over four runs an over. Motie, who was working his way back from a lower-back injury, shook off the rust in the last session and combined well with Holder to apply the brakes on South Africa. Roston Chase, the other spinner, also found grip, turn, and bounce, which could pique the interest of South Africa's own spinners.
 
The hosts had also picked two specialist spinners - Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer - in a rare instance. It was so rare that the last time South Africa played two spinners in Johannesburg was way back in 1965.
 
For Markram, it was business as usual, after South Africa had opted to take first strike. He unfurled a variety of picture-perfect drives, both off the front foot and back, in the front of square. When West Indies shortened their length, Markram was also quickly in position to pull them away. When he was on the verge of his hundred, though, he tried to manufacture a sweep behind the wicket and ended up lobbing it to slip off the toe end. It snapped a breezy 116-run second-wicket partnership with de Zorzi.
 
Read more at ESPNcricinfo

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Sylobaby 2023-03-08 19:45:53 

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
311/7 close of play is clearly SA day with that long tail of West Indies line up that starts immediately after the two openers are gone except for Blackwood who is a batsman. Our problem is we have three Bajans in the middle order Riefer, Myers and Chase and none is good enough to be a genuine batsman and none is good enough to play as a genuine bowler. In fact Reifer doesn’t even command a pick on the Barbados team if all their players are available but just to press Alick Arthanaze selectors keep batting him at number 3 in test. Riefer to me is nothing more than a night watchman and even if he gets a century that still wouldn’t make him a batsman just as J Taylor got a test hundred batting at number 8 did not make him a batsman

 
Sylobaby 2023-03-08 20:02:02 

In reply to Sylobaby
The Bajan selectors and captain have once again denied the young talented Alick Athanaze an opportunity to show case his talents in the two test series. What is even more glaring is before young Athanaze scored his first first class century he had two back to centuries in the regional 50 overs competition, which made him a clear candidate for the ODI series against South Africa. But he was not even included on the ODI team although they knew he wasn’t going to play in the test series. So to me West Indies is a Barbados thing and I just can’t support them as a West Indian