BENONI, South Africa, (CMC) - Vasbert Drakes struck two critical blows to trigger an irreversible collapse and then returned to take the final wicket as the West Indies completed their first ever victory in a first-class match in South Africa, holding off the challenge of Easterns to win by a 33-run margin an hour into the last session of the four-day match yesterday.
A small gathering of spectators at Willowmoore Park were preparing to celebrate a famous win for the home team, who were well poised at 196 for four in mid-afternoon chasing a challenging target of 285.
But Drakes, who was used sparingly in this fixture with the final Test against South Africa beginning on Friday at nearby Centurion, removed top-scorers Andre Seymore and Geoffrey Toyana in successive overs.
It was a double-strike from which the hosts never recovered, losing their last six wickets for 55 runs to be dismissed for 251 despite another battling knock of 34 by first innings hero Albie Morkel, who was last man out.
Having gone through the entire calamitous 1998/99 tour and five matches so far on the current campaign without savouring the sweet taste of victory in the traditional version of the game, the Caribbean side almost squandered the opportunity when wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh started celebrating too early and dropped a straightforward catch offered by last man Jacob Malao off Corey Collymore.
The score was 236 for nine then, and there was a growing sense of panic in the West Indian camp, especially when Morkel smashed Drakes over long-on for six to take his team past the 250-run mark.
But it was to be the last bit of defiance, as in attempting to pull a short ball to the same area two balls later, the left-hander could only find Shivnarine Chanderpaul at mid-on.
Drakes finished with the best figures of three for 37, while Collymore and Ravi Rampaul claimed two scalps each.
It may have all ended satisfactorily for the tourists, but they had the familiar look of a beaten team and were wilting with Seymore and Toyana involved in a 59-run partnership in blistering early afternoon heat.
It was then that acting captain Ramnaresh Sarwan summoned his most experienced seamer, and the 34-year-old Barbadian responded by trapping Seymore lbw for 79 and then prompting an errant off-drive from Toyana who, on 43, skied a catch to cover where Dave Mohammed clutched the chance gleefully.
Mohammed’s relief was understandable for he had dropped Seymore the previous evening when the opener was only on six, and the left-arm wrist-spinner then took a hammering as he conceded 34 runs off six overs before being pulled hastily out of the attack.
With the two major stumbling blocks gone, off-spinner Chris Gayle removed Sean O’Connor to a simple catch by Mohammed and then showed incredible reflexes in running out Morne Morkel to effectively end the match.
The Morkel brothers had put on 141 for the ninth wicket in the first innings, and the debutant Morne seemed in similarly defiant mood in support of his elder sibling when Albie attempted a powerful straight drive, which Gayle, the bowler, dived full-length to stop and then had the presence of mind, while flat out on the pitch, to throw down the stumps with the lanky pacer well out of his ground.
After taking two wickets late on the third day, it was obvious that the West Indies were in for a tough battle as the Easterns overnight pair of Seymore and Daryll Cullinan defied the early-morning assault.
Collymore made the breakthrough after an hour, having the former South African Test batsman caught by tour captain Brian Lara at second slip, who was again making one of his frequent appearances in the match as substitute fielder.
The resistance continued as Pierre de Bruyn joined Seymore in adding another 66 runs only for their stand to be broken by the second ball after lunch -- de Bruyn edging Rampaul to the wicketkeeper when on 34.
Toyana, one of the pioneering black players in South African first-class cricket, entertained with six fours and one six, pushing his team within 100 runs of their target.
But the attacking left-hander’s demise, following close on the heels of Seymore’s dismissal, finally tilted the balance West Indies’ way, despite the last-gasp scare.
WEST INDIES first innings 334 (C.Gayle 145)
Easterns first innings 313 (A.Morkel 132; R.Rampaul 4-63)
West Indies second innings 263 (R.Sarwan 72, D.Ganga 51)
Easterns second innings (overnight 28-0)
A.Seymore lbw b Drakes 79
D.Jennings c & b Sanford 0
Z.de Bruyn b Rampaul 15
D.Cullinan c sub. (Lara) b Collymore 17
P.de Bruyn c Baugh b Rampaul 34
G.Toyana c Mohammed b Drakes 43
J.Morkel c Chanderpaul b Drakes 34
S.O'Connor c Mohammed b Gayle 4
G.Flusk c Baugh b Collymore 7
M.Morkel run-out (Gayle) 3
J.Malao not out 2
Extras: (b-4, lb-7, nb-2) 13
Total: (all out, 82.5 overs) 251
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-28, 3-71, 4-137, 5-196, 6-197, 7-211, 8-226, 9-236.