The fighting spirit that Brian Lara has cited as the most pleasing aspect of his second tenure as West Indies captain was again in evidence here yesterday - even though he would prefer if it wasn't necessary quite so often.
In his 100th Test, he himself was inevitably to the fore with a skilfully crafted 72 as the West Indies battled their way back from the depths of 17 for four inside the first 40 minutes and 57 for five at lunch to 232 for eight when rain that threatened all day finally ended the first day of the second Test 25 overs short of its allocated 90.
He did not do it alone. Ridley Jacobs, the combative, ever reliable wicket-keeper, provided vital support in a counter-attacking sixth wicket partnership of 98 off 17.4 overs after lunch that initially steadied the ship.
Once Jacobs was lbw for 58 going back to Andre Nel, one of South Africa's five quick bowlers, and Lara steered a wicked bouncer from Makhaya Ntini to first slip, Vasbert Drakes, another doughty veteran, and Adam Sanford kept the fight going.
Their ninth wicket stand was worth 41 when the rain finally arrived.
Sometime during the day, Mark Boucher, the South African wicket-keeper, was heard, through the stump microphone, to observe for the benefit of the West Indian batsman in front of him: "This ain't Barbados."
It certainly wasn't.
The leaden clouds hung so low over the Kingsmead ground that the floodlights had to be used throughout and the pitch was as well grassed as any they would come across in England in May.
Without the injured Chris Gayle, their settled opening batsman, the West Indies were forced to draft Carlton Baugh, the reserve wicket-keeper, into the middle order, preferring him to Dwayne Smith, who had been flown out as the replacement specialist batsman for the injured Marlon Samuels.
They needed to be able to bowl in the helpful conditions to even the balance between the teams but Lara called 'heads', the coin landed on the opposite side and they were compelled to bat in alien conditions that tested technique and temperament.
It was, to use Lara's _expression after the first Test defeat, "a great effort" to come back so positively even if South Africa still hold the advantage on a pitch that gradually lost its early life through the day.
But, in Lara's first term at the helm and subsequently, they might have been long since replying to an all-out total in double figures.
As the top order wobbled in the morning, there were haunting memories of the 51 against Australia in Port-of-Spain in 1999, the 54 at Lord's and 61 at Headingley against England in 2000 and the 82 against Australia in Brisbane a few months later.
Such collapses have not yet been eliminated, as a couple of recent instances in Zimbabwe and in the first Test in Johannesburg attest, but they are now unlikely to be as spineless as they used to be.
After the start was delayed by half-hour by rain, the West Indies lost a wicket to the sixth ball of the match and four within the first eight overs as Shaun Pollock and Ntini kept finding outside edges and Boucher and slips kept snapping up catches.
The latest episode on Wavell Hinds' horror sequence with the bat was ended with a catch to Boucher off the last ball of Pollock's opening over, the ball deflected from the edge of a bat belatedly withdrawn.
Like Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan has found runs a priceless commodity.
After square-cutting the first ball of Pollock's second over for four, he was square in defence, with both feet in the crease, to the last and Jacques Kallis swallowed the edged offering to his right at second slip.
Ntini took three overs to join the fun.
Daren Ganga had one delightful cover-driven boundary off him, got the better of an lbw decision one ball and, also on the back foot, was taken at first slip off the next that straightened on pitching.
When Shivnarine Chanderpaul became Ntini's second victim to the third, slip catch of the morning off the last ball of the eighth over, the innings was in tatters at 17 for four.
Baugh, who had presumably watched the procession from the team room, entered to play a frenetic little innings that indicated he was out to get the bowlers before they got him.
It provided an entertaining three-quarters of an hour as he gathered four boundaries in 21 off 30 balls but it was always only a matter of time before he presented another slip catch.
Nel was the bowler, again celebrating the wicket by sticking his tongue out, a misdeamour that got him a fine in the first Test. This time it was not aimed at the batsman.
As the pitch began to ease, Jacobs, all muscular aggression, and Lara came out punching after lunch.
Lara escaped another chance into the slips when Andrew Hall dropped him at third slip off Ntini's second ball on resumption. He was then 14 and it was the first ball that genuinely beat him.
Jacobs' response was to take three fours off Ntini's second over of the afternoon, prompting Lara to follow suit.
Ntini was replaced after 24 were taken off his three overs and the two greeted Nel by scoring 10 off his first over. The big fast bowler came back strongly, hitting Lara on the body as he ducked and finding Jacobs' edge for a half-chance to which Boucher barely got the tips of his left glove.
When Kallis had his first bowl, Lara glided him fine for successive boundaries and Jacobs hooked, flicked and on-drove him aerially for three more from successive balls in his next over.
The first hour of the session yielded 83 and the stand was two away from 100 when Nel broke it with Jacobs' wicket.
The Antiguan left-hander had 11 fours off 69 balls, underlining his affection for a fight and for South African bowling.
By now Lara was playing with the same freedom of his first Test 202. He added 59 from 62 balls in the second session with 11 of his 12 trademark boundaries, none sweeter that a whistling straight drive off Ntini before the same bowler had his revenge with his bouncer, delivered from over the wicket that tracked Lara down.
Ntini claimed his fourth wicket, bowling Merv Dillon, but Drakes, the 34-year-old veteran with the advantage of six seasons in South African provincial cricket behind him, raised his highest Test score of 40 while the No.10, Sanford held fast for an hour and 10 minutes at the other end.
Drakes was 12 when Nel ran around from mid-on to drop his skier off Pollock but it was his only blemish in an effort that was the latest proof of his value to the team.
Sanford was bold enough to execute a peerless cover-driven four off Pollock and to hoist Ntini overhead for another.
As much as their runs were appreciated, it is what they, Dillon and Fidel Edwards do with the ball today that will decide the course, if not the outcome, of the match.