Keshav Maharaj produced a herculean effort as he bowled 28 overs unchanged for the Proteas, on day three of the first Test against the West Indies in Port of Spain on Friday.
For his efforts, Maharaj returned figures of 3/45 in a rain-interrupted day of tough Test cricket.
At stumps, West Indies had reached 145/4, 212 runs behind the 357 South Africa posted in the first innings.
With much of the focus over the last 18 months being on limited overs cricket, it was a welcome return to the longest format of the game for the 34-year-old Maharaj.
"It’s just good old Test cricket, and grinding away and forcing the batters to make the mistake." - Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj
— IOL Sport (@IOLsport) August 10, 2024
Video: Cricket SA pic.twitter.com/pJJVREeM61
Ready to go
“I’m a little bit tired, but excited to get back into Test cricket and have a long bowl out there. We managed to get a few breakthroughs, it’s tough out there. We’re happy and ready to go tomorrow,” said Maharaj.
“We’d like to get early wickets tomorrow, whether it’s one or two. We understand there’s a process. It’s similar to what you saw today. It’s just good old Test cricket, and grinding away and forcing the batters to make the mistake.”
The Proteas did not allow the Windies to score freely as they were restricted to 2.16 runs per over in their innings.
Maharaj said the Proteas bowling attack did well to restrict the hosts.
“They played really well. The one thing they did was control the run-rate, and we know it [losing wickets] can happen in clusters. We saw from our innings, that that’s the way the wicket is playing.”
With the hosts moving to 114/1 and looking comfortable, South Africa were buoyed by the dismissal of skipper and opener Kraig Brathwaite through a top piece of fielding by Wiaan Mulder with a direct hit as the batsman attempted a quick single to mid-on.
“We knew we were creating a little bit of pressure, but run-outs are unexpected in Test cricket, but we’ll take it with both hands. Wiaan did exceptionally well to hit the stumps from the angle. We went off the field, but when we came back we were able to get another breakthrough.
“Hopefully tomorrow we get a full day with fewer disruptions and get those cluster of wickets.”