West Indies

The 30-year-old Powell was surprisingly left out of a team that was hastily arranged after several members of the first team declined to tour Bangladesh.  Many believe Powell capable of being a regular part of the first team.

The Leeward Island’s batsman was the highest runs scorer in the previous season of the Cricket West Indies Super50 tournament.  Powell scored 524 runs with a high score of 121 not out.  He also had two 50s and two 100s.

The player was initially surprised he was not selected to the team to tour England earlier this year, after a strong showing for the season.  He admitted, however, to having failed a fitness test but claimed he was perplexed as others who did not show up for the test or also failed it were still selected.  According to Harper, however, the issue of Powell’s fitness remains a hindrance and formed part of the consideration on this occasion as well.

“Mr. Powell has performed very well, he was the leading runs scorer for the Super50 competition, but he is yet to meet the fitness standard,” Harper told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“Players have been left out of the team for the same reason.  The players we have selected on this squad have all met the fitness standard,” he added.

“Evin Lewis declined the invitation but he too is now available for selection.”

Lewis was dropped from the squad, along with Shimron Hetmyer earlier this year, after failing fitness tests.

There can be no doubt that the 27-year-old can be absolutely devasting with the bat, which he has proven on several occasions in recent years. In the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), however, Powell also showed some ability with the ball.  He claimed 5 wickets in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons, along with quite a few economic spells.

The player has, however, not been as successful with the ball recently, going without a wicket in the CPL this season.  It is an area he has targeted for improvement.

“I’m a batting all-rounder, for the last couple of years my bowling has fallen off.  It’s something I have sat down and thought about,” Powell said from the team’s training base in New Zealand on Thursday.

“It’s just for me now to work on my bowling and strengthen all three aspects of my cricket," he added.

One area of his bowling he would specifically like to strengthen is how much pace he can generate.

“To get that ex-factor I think I have to bowl a little bit faster.  Looking at the other all-rounders around the world and around the Caribbean, they tend to bowl a little bit faster than I do.  The slower balls and the variation will always come, but you know over the course of my career I have to come up with ways to bowl a little faster and that will give me an edge.”

Powell, while chasing a ball towards the boundary, avoided a potentially catastrophic collision and chose to get hurt himself.

The incident occurred in the third over of the South Africa chase when Quinton de Kock hit the ball towards the long off boundary.

Powell gave chase and was inside the dive length to pull the ball back into the field before it touched the boundary. The West Indies captain, however, saw a five-year-old ball boy trying to get to the edge of line and catch the ball and decided to abort the chase in the last minute.

The West Indies captain then jumped over the boy and the boundary line and crashed into the LED boards, before toppling over.

Visibly shaken from the incident, Powell had to be treated at the side-line and took a decent amount of time to get back into the field.

As for the game, South Africa won by six wickets after pulling off a record chase. The West Indies posted 258-5 off their 20 overs and the South Africans needed only 18.5 overs to reach 259-4.

The third T20I takes place at Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The Windies followed the United States' lead in making a winning start on home soil on Sunday, though they were pushed close in a five-wicket win over the team ranked 20th in the world.

The co-hosts collapsed from 61-1 to 97-5 and needed 37 runs from their final 19 balls to reach their target of 137, but Andre Russell and Roston Chase combined to get them over the line.

They take on Uganda in their second match next Sunday before rounding off their Group C campaign against New Zealand and Afghanistan.

Powell knows they have work to do despite their victory, saying in his post-match interview: "Papua New Guinea's plans were simple, and they played some really good cricket. It is important to get two points in this tournament.

"Roston bowled pretty well, and to come out under pressure, with the way he played, it was what we needed. 

"We are 60 to 70 per cent there. We can be better in all three departments. Hopefully, we can correct that for the second game."

Chase was named Player of the Match after hitting an unbeaten 42 off 27 deliveries, and he insists Windies did not take Papua New Guinea lightly.

"They're not an A-List team but we don't want to take any team lightly in the World Cup. We came out with the mentality that we were playing Australia or India," he said.

"We started slowly but we had a chat at the halfway stage and the guys just wanted to rally and put our best foot forward."

The West Indies won the first two games of the series relatively comfortably before England produced a pair of magnificent batting performances to tie the series heading into the Thursday’s decider.

The West Indians first restricted the English to 132 all out in 19.3 overs, their lowest score of the series.

The hosts then held their nerve to reach 133-6 with four balls to spare, securing another series win under Powell’s leadership in international cricket’s shortest format.

“I think we played very well today. After England came back in the series and put us under pressure, I think the guys responded like champions,” Powell said in a post-match interview.

He especially credited his bowlers for keeping player of the series, Phil Salt, in check. Salt hit hundreds in both the third and fourth T20Is. He made 38 on Thursday to finish the series with 331 runs.

"It was very important for us to control him. Yesterday we sat in our team room and tried to have some one on one discussions with the guys to try our best to come up with collective plans to control him. For the last two games they scored 70 in the powerplay to totally write us off," Powell said.

Powell added that he feels like his side are well prepared for next year’s T20 World Cup but mentioned that there’s still work to be done, particularly in the bowling department.

“I think we are prepared but we still have areas we need to sharpen up, especially our bowling. Two games back to back where England beat us badly as a bowling unit. Hopefully, over the next few months we can sharpen up and get those areas sorted,” Powell said.

Powell also heaped praise on opponents England, noting that the reigning World T20 Champions have an excellent chance of defending their title next year.

“England is a world class team and they have world class players to come into their squad so that is always going to boost them. All they need to do is get familiar with the conditions. Because they are such a quality team, if they get familiar with conditions they will be difficult to beat,” he said.

“We realized something with the English batters. Once you put them on the good wickets, they’re very good but when the pitch starts assisting the bowlers, it becomes a little bit tricky for everyone. For us Caribbean players, we’ve been playing on bad wickets for such a long time so we know how to play on it,” he added.

The West Indies’ next T20I assignment will be a three-match away series against Australia from February 9-13.

The two-time champions and joint hosts have won all three of their matches in Group C against Papua New Guinea, Uganda and New Zealand and have already secured a spot in the Super 8.

A win over Afghanistan in their final Group Stage game at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St. Lucia on Monday will see them advance as winners of Group C.

Their opponents also have three wins in as many games and are currently top of the group with a superior net run rate, 4.230 to 2.596.

West Indies skipper Rovman Powell addressed the media on Sunday ahead of Monday’s encounter.

“Obviously, it's a top of the table clash. Afghanistan have been playing good T20 cricket and consistent T20 cricket. They have a lot of match winners. So, it's something that we have to come with our best game. As I said before, they're playing good T20 cricket. So, it's an opportunity for us to play against another world class side. Very good practice going into the Super 8 games,” he said.

The hosts have played their three games in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago and are looking forward to playing at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St. Lucia, a pitch known as one of the better ones in the region for batting.

“Yeah, definitely. When we look on the schedule, all the batters were excited to come to St. Lucia. Traditionally, St. Lucia have been a place where batters like to bat. It's also an opportunity for bowlers to bowl good spells here, especially the fast bowlers. We think that St. Lucia offer 60 - 40 in terms of, from a batting perspective, to bowl. And so, if you are a bowler, or if you are a batter, you definitely can get something out of the St. Lucia wicket,” Powell said.

One major concern for the West Indies has been the form of opener Johnson Charles who has scored 44 runs in three games, so far, with all 44 of those runs coming against Uganda.

Powell says he expects Charles to come good at some point and is encouraging him to continue to be aggressive at the top of the innings.

“It's just a case of us telling him to be Johnson Charles, be his natural self. If he's an aggressive player, we expect him to play aggressive. But with that aggression, we know at some point he will fail and at some point, he will come good. So, it's for us now to support him, it's for us now to give him that additional backing that he needs and I think everyone is behind him to come good tomorrow or when he gets the opportunity in the future games,” he said.

Since the tournament, the regional side have climbed up to number three in the ICC T20 International rankings.

Naturally, a team playing a home World Cup will face pressure to perform well but this bump in ranking will only magnify that pressure.

Powell says the team is aware and ready for the challenge ahead.

“I think pressure is always there, especially when you're at home, especially when you're playing a World Cup at home. Pressure is always there, but it's for us as individuals to manage that pressure,” he said.

“I think for me as captain, when I started this journey 12 or 14 months ago, when I took over as captain, we were at eight or nine in the ranking. To see us at number three now in the world is a pleasing feeling. And it shows that not just myself, but the players are coming together and we're doing something right. I've never played in a West Indies team that is ranked number three in the world. So that for me is something special and hopefully, just hopefully, we can continue to climb those rankings,” he added.

The Windies posted a mammoth 374-9 off their 50 overs after winning the toss and batting first at the Takashinga Sports Club in Harare.

Vice-captain Powell hit eight fours and eight sixes in his knock while Nicholas Pooran and Keemo Paul got brisk half-centuries in support.

Pooran hit five fours and five sixes on his way to a 67-ball 74 while Paul hit four fours and four sixes to make 54 off 50 balls.

Kyle Mayer (33) and Johnson Charles (30) also got meaningful contributions against Muhammad Jawadullah’s 3-50 from eight overs and Karthik Meiyappan’s 2-51 off six overs.

Yannic Cariah and Jason Holder then led the way with the ball as the UAE finished their 50 overs 260-9.

Basil Hameed tried his best with an unbeaten 122 while Vriitya Aravind made 54 but it wasn’t enough as Cariah claimed his second straight four-wicket haul of the warm-ups with 4-55 from his 10 overs.

Holder provided good support with 2-26 from seven overs.

The West Indies will open their account in the World Cup Qualifiers against the USA on Sunday.

The administrator has taken exception with what he believes is the unfair treatment meted out to opening batsman Kieron Powell, who is also his son.  With 12 first team members opting not to go on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, Powell, the top runs scorer during last season’s Super50 competition, was left out of a hastily assembled second-string team.

According to Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors Roger Harper, the player had failed to meet the team’s fitness standards.  The senior Powell, however, insists that was not quite true as while representing the Leeward Islands Kieron had passed the Yoyo fitness test more than once.  He insists that the issue stems from the fact that the player has not being given another opportunity to prove his fitness by the regional governing body.  By comparison, he claims that Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmeyer, who both failed the test at the same time as Powell, were quickly afforded opportunities to prove their improved fitness level.

“The West Indies Cricket Board has repeatedly said as recently as Roger Harper on the 29^th…that Powell was left out because he has not yet met the fitness standard, which is absolutely inaccurate in that he has more than once met and passed the fitness test as administered by the Leeward Islands,” Powell told Television Jamaica.

“The West Indies Cricket Board should amend their statement to say that they have failed to give him a fitness test since he failed the test in December of 2019,” he added.

“By the same token others who failed the fitness test at the same time, Hetmeyer and Lewis, fitness tests were arranged for them by the board.  We’re saying this is absolutely wrong there must be a level playing field for all the persons.”

Powell hit four fours and five sixes in his unbeaten 68 from 36 balls and Pooran 62 that included five fours and three sixes from 42 balls in a partnership of 101 runs that ended midway the 19^th over when Pooran was dismissed going for a bit hit with the West Indies still 27 runs from their target.

The pair came together after coming together with the score at 59-2 with Brandon King (22) and Kyle Mayers (9) back in the hutch after 8.3 overs.

Needing 25 from the last over, Powell gave the West Indies hope with consecutive sixes off Harshal Patel to leave the West Indies needing 11 from the final two deliveries. However, those deliveries yielded just two runs and the West Indies were short of their target.

The West Indies won the toss and sent India to bat. Their bowlers restricted India to 72-3 inside in the 10^th over. Sheldon Cottrell dismissed Ishan Kishan for 2 before Roston Chase removed Rohit Sharma for 19, Suryakumar Yadav for eight and the dangerous Virat Kohli for 52 as India rushed to 106-4.

A 76-run partnership between Player of the Match Risbah Pant, 52 not out from 28 balls and Venkatesh Iyer (33) then powered India to their total of 186-5.

Chase finished with figures of 3-25 but the other bowlers let the West Indies down. Jason Holder conceded 45 from his four overs, including 14 from his last over, while Sheldon Cottrell who had only given up five runs from his first two overs, conceded 15 in his third and final over for figures of 1-20.

Pollard’s only over yielded 14 runs.

Speaking on Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Gonsalves said he based his assessment on a string of poor performances from the Caribbean side and an apparent lack of development.

“On the basis of the recent performances in the T20 World Cup, the abysmally poor outcome we have had in Sri Lanka and the very mediocre performance here in the Caribbean in recent times, I think it would be fair to say that the cricket is now in a state of crisis,” said Gonsalves, who went on to say that he believes a lack of ideas for a way forward from leaders of cricket around the region continues to be a contributing factor to the demise of the game.

“What we are having here is a full-blown crisis, not a crisis of governance so much, but a crisis in the performance which is connected to governance. I see a crisis as a condition in which the principals are innocent of the extent of the condition and have no credible bundle of ideas as to the way forward,” he said.

Gonsalves said he doesn’t believe those in charge of West Indies cricket truly understand the magnitude of the situation at hand.

“Every time I hear persons speak after a poor performance, you get commentary about how we didn’t do so badly; that there are bright spots and we keep looking for them as though we have to fool ourselves as to what is taking place. I don’t think we ought to fool ourselves and I’m not so sure from what I’ve been hearing that the persons who are in charge at different levels fully grasp what is here upon us,” Gonsalves said.

The West Indies next assignment will be a limited-overs tour of Pakistan consisting of three T20 Internationals and three ODIs beginning on December 13.

De Kock made a classy century in a first Test that the Proteas won by an innings and 63 runs at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium and was dismissed for 96 at the same venue on Saturday.

Kemar Roach took 3-45 and Kyle Mayers claimed 3-28 - his best Test bowling figures - as the tourists were bowled out for 298 on the second day in Gros Islet.

The Windies were bowled out for only 149 in reply, losing their last four wickets for only six runs in the space of three and a half overs.

Kagiso Rabada (2-24), Lungi Ngidi (2-27) and Keshav Maharaj (2-47) took two wickets apiece, while Wiaan Mulder took three wickets for only one run late on another miserable day for West Indies - who trail by 149 runs and are facing a 2-0 series defeat.

Roach had Mulder caught behind in his first over of the day and Maharaj fell in the same fashion to Jason Holder after putting on 36 for the seventh wicket with De Kock.

De Kock fell just shy of a hundred when he attempted to slash Mayers for four, Shai Hope taking a simple catch in the gully after the ball looped up off Joshua Da Silva's glove.

Rabada added an unbeaten 21 and then had Kraigg Brathwaite caught behind off the first ball of the Windies' reply and they were in deep trouble on 54-4 when Maharaj removed Mayers.

Jermaine Blackwood (49) and Hope (43) offered some resistance, but West Indies folded and look to be facing a whitewash on home soil in a series they started by only posting a pitiful 97 and 162 in the opening Test.

De Kock falls just short

Wicketkeeper batsman De Kock was named man of the match in the first Test for his magnificent 141.

The explosive left-hander fell agonisingly short of a second successive hundred on the same ground, but his brilliant innings could be decisive.

De Kock struck eight boundaries in another assured, high quality 162-ball knock, having arrived at the crease on day one with work to do at 124-4.

Late Mulder burst sums up Windies' day

The Windies were already on the ropes at 143-6 before Mulder did late damage.

All-rounder Mulder had birthday boy Da Silva caught behind in his first over, then saw the back of Roach and Jayden Seales in the space of three balls.

Blackwood top-edged spinner Maharaj to Dean Elgar, ending a sorry innings that lasted only 54 overs.

The Proteas were due to travel to Sri Lanka in June for three ODIs and a trio of Twenty20 fixtures against their hosts, only to cancel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For the same reason they called off a planned trip to the Caribbean set for July and August, when they were due to play two Tests and five T20 matches.

While there was hope of facing West Indies in September instead, director of cricket Smith admits such a scenario is impossible for Cricket South Africa (CSA) due to the rearranged Indian Premier League season.

Several of the country's leading names are contracted to franchises for the T20 tournament, which seems set to be staged in the United Arab Emirates this year.

"The West Indies tour has been postponed indefinitely," Smith told the media on Saturday.

"We are struggling to find the time with the Indian Premier League, when our players are likely to be needed from the beginning of September. Sri Lanka also [postponed].

"I expect that once things get up and running, our team, on the men's side, I would say from November onwards, if all goes well, it will be a really busy period for South African cricket, probably playing in times that we haven't played before and trying to cram in a lot of the missed tours."

As for his own situation with CSA, Smith reaffirmed his commitment to the role amid recent questions raised over his appointment, as well as the coaching staff he put in place.

Mark Boucher was named as head coach ahead of the home series with England, while fellow former international team-mates Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris were introduced to work as batting and spin-bowling consultants respectively.

"If you look at some of the things which are being said around appointments, my appointment and the appointment of my staff, I think some of those things are extremely unfair," Smith said.

"It was good to see CSA president (Chris Nenzani) put that straight with his most recent comments. But I have to come back to my value system and why I got involved in this job.

"Cricket South Africa courted me for a while, I went through the same interview process as everybody else in getting the job.

"I got involved because I have got cricket at heart and to be part of the solution. I want to help create a strong Cricket South Africa."

The Proteas appeared to have failed to capitalise on a strong start with the bat when posting 166-7, only slightly above the total they had been unable to defend in the opening game 24 hours earlier.

West Indies had cruised to an eight-wicket victory on Saturday, but this time around they were bamboozled by South Africa's slow bowlers, George Linde (2-19) and Tabraiz Shamsi (1-16) taking 3-35 from their eight overs combined.

Fabian Allen's late onslaught – the all-rounder smashed 34 off just 12 deliveries – kept his team in with a slender chance, but even three sixes off Lungi Ngidi (1-49) in the 20th over were not enough. The innings finished at 150-9, in the process ending West Indies' two-match winning run in the format.

South Africa had appeared on course to set a more challenging target when openers Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock (26) put on 73, the stand coming to an end when the latter fell to Kevin Sinclair (2-23).

Captain Temba Bavuma (46) continued the good work of the first-wicket pairing as the tourists reached the midway stage on 95-1, yet they lost their way in the second half of the innings.

The miserly Sinclair accounted for Hendricks, who made 42, and the promise of a late push was curtailed by regular wickets, the Proteas slipping from 122-3 as Obed McCoy (3-25) excelled with the ball at the death.

The real McCoy? Absolutely!

Left-arm seamer McCoy returned his best T20 figures in international cricket, aided by going for just three runs in the 20th over. His back-of-the-hand slower ball accounted for both Heinrich Klaasen and Linde as South Africa slumped down the stretch, albeit the stuttering finish did not cost them in the end.

Allen just Fab, but still not enough

Andre Fletcher did make 35, but the opener used up 36 deliveries in the process of top scoring for West Indies. In contrast, Allen rushed along at a stunning strike-rate of 283.33 runs per 100 balls. His late cameo included five sixes but Ngidi got him in the end, trapped lbw by a yorker from the penultimate ball.

Pooran has struggled to make an impact in six matches so far this season, managing just a high score of 19 and failing to score on three occasions.  Gayle has had more of a mixed performance, scoring 40 plus on two occasions but also had a series of low scores, including a golden duck in the team’s last encounter against Kolkata Knightriders.

Ojha, however, believes that the team’s top two KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal might be thinking about scoring too quickly and posting too big a target too early in the innings.

"They should think about 160-170 at first. But if you start thinking from the beginning that we have a very good batting line-up with Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran and we should aim 180-190 then you are putting undue pressure on (them),” Ojha told Cricbuzz.

"You can only think about a big score once you have got a good start. So you have to change your plans accordingly. You can't think that you have big names and they will always score runs. You have the look at the kind of form they are in too. Can't plan based on past glory," Ojha added.

The iconic ball-beater turned 42 on Tuesday but could only watch from the bench as the team fell to a 2 runs loss to Rajasthan Royals.  The West Indian has managed 178 runs in 8 matches, with an average of 25.42.  The average is the fourth-best on the team, but on Tuesday the Kings opted for Aiden Markham at the third place in the line-up, which Gayle has been occupying since last season.

Pietersen admits he found the situation to be an unusual one.

   "There will be some questions asked. I don’t understand why you would leave Chris Gayle out on his birthday,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.

“If there was one game you were going to play him, it was this one. If he failed then you say ‘ok, you can have a bit of rest’. So, I can’t understand the thinking at all," he added.

Gayle has been selected for the West Indies T20 squad for next month’s ICC World T20, the appearance will mark his 7^th at the global tournament.

Pybus, a former Director of Cricket, served in the post from January to April of last year before being replaced by Floyd Reifer, a few weeks ahead of the 2019 World Cup.  Although his tenure was brief, Pybus is credited with orchestrating an outstanding performance from the West Indies cricket team that hosted England last year.

The Test team went on to reclaim the Wisden Trophy with a 2-1 series win over England and also matched up to the highly ranked tourists in the One Day International format where they secured a 2-2 draw.  For some critics, the performances had nothing to do with Pybus but was merely a case of the team beginning to discover its full potential.  Radford, who served as a member of Pybus’ staff, however, disagrees.

“I thought he was exceptional.  Where Richard Pybus was very good was setting the agenda of where he believed the team could go, and getting the players to buy into ‘this is where we were headed’ Cameron told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“I remember the way he drew up on a flip chart, ‘what does a world’s number one look like?’ ‘If you took the world’s best team what is it that they do in Test match cricket?’ He got the players to write down what they needed to deliver. ‘We have to bat for 120 overs. We have to get 350 plus.’  He had all these things and the players were coming up with it, so it gave the players ownership.  The players bought into this vision of what we were trying to deliver.  So there were clear targets,” he added.

‘Another thing he brilliantly did he put the list of 11 players up, he put the England 11 up and he started to do match-ups.  He would say ‘Shannon you have to take more wickets than Anderson’ and it was great there was competition for players with the opposition number.  He had all these kinds of things.  I think he was excellent as a manager and motivator.”

The 27-years-old Hope was dropped from the team last year ahead of the West Indies tour of New Zealand.  The decision followed several months of off-colour form, which saw the player return scores of 16, 9, 25, 7, 17, and 31 during the team’s three-Test tour of England in July. Overall, in Test cricket, Hope averaged 19.48 since December 2017 and just 14.45 since February 2019.

The decision to drop the player, however, still stirred vigorous debate around the region, with many arguing that he should have been allowed to play his way back into form.  For his part, Dujon has backed the player to figure things out sooner, rather than later.

“There’s no question in my mind that he is the best batsman that we have,” Dujon told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“Technically he is very good, from the very first time I saw him, I thought he was very good and talking to him and getting to know him, I know he is smart enough to work it out when things aren’t going right,” he added.

“He might have gotten his technique a little bit mixed up because of the competitions he was playing in, but I don’t see that lasting very long because he has quality.  You don’t go to England and be immortal and not be able to bat.”

Hope grabbed headlines around the world in 2017, becoming the first batsman to score twin hundreds in a match at Headingly in first-class cricket.

Against the West Indies, the pair has 160 wickets in 41 matches. With that being said, many were surprised when the England squad for their three-match Test series against the Windies was announced with Broad and Anderson nowhere to be found.

West Indies pace bowler Kemar Roach was no exception.

“Quite surprising,” Roach said in a pre-match press conference on Saturday.

“I thought that both of them would definitely still be involved but decisions have been made on that end,” he added.

Obviously, the absence of the two is a big plus for the Caribbean side, a sentiment Roach also shared.

“I think it’s a slight advantage for us, obviously with those experienced players missing so there’s a hole for England to fill. Robinson, Wood, and Woakes are fantastic bowlers and we take them seriously but once we get our plans right, I think we’ll be in good shape going into this series.”

Since his debut in 2009, Roach has taken 231 wickets in Test cricket with England being his favourite opponent as 50 of those have come against them.

“For me, England is our biggest series. We play the most test matches against England, having three, so, at home, obviously, there’s a confidence factor and you want to perform well against England. I’m always looking to go hard and put on my best performances against them.”

Roach will, hopefully, have his chance to add to those 50 wickets when the teams square off in the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua starting on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old, who took charge of the region’s white-ball teams earlier this year, made the surprise decision to step down as captain, after just 7 months on the job.

As captain of the team, Pooran had faced severe pressure following the team’s poor showing at the T20 World Cup.  The West Indies failed to advance from the first round of the competition, following losses to Scotland and Ireland.  The results led to the resignation of the team’s head coach Phil Simmons but having only just been appointed to the post, Pooran was widely expected to keep the position.

Dujon admitted to being surprised but believes the player has done the right thing given the circumstances.

“I think it’s a good thing for him.  As a young player, you have been given responsibility but things haven’t worked out for him,” Dujon told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“He still has a career ahead of him and shedding this responsibility might just help his cricket as time goes on,” he added.

Pooran captained the T20 team for 23 matches, winning 8 and losing 14 for a win ratio of 35 percent.

At 73-7 in their second innings, South Africa's lead was 222, and there was the prospect of West Indies possibly chasing a target under 250 to win the game and tie the two-match series.

But Van der Dussen and Rabada combined to add 70 for the eighth wicket, with tail-ender Rabada racing to a Test-best 40, including a six off Kemar Roach. South Africa made it to 174 all out, setting a victory target of 324.

Van der Dussen finished unbeaten on 75, while in the course of the innings former West Indies captain Jason Holder became just the 15th man in Test history to reach 50 catches, 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a career. He joined that club with a spectacular catch at second slip to see off Keshav Maharaj.

West Indies' batting fragility had been exposed by South Africa on Saturday, the second day of the match, when they were bowled out for 149, exactly half of the tourists' first-innings 298 total. It meant the hosts were on the back foot heading into day three, but they had South Africa rattled as the Proteas top order offered desperately little resistance.

The morning session was wiped out due to rain in St Lucia, but when play began at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Roach was quick to make an impact, having openers Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar both caught cheaply at second slip by Jason Holder.

Keegan Petersen chopped Kyle Mayers' second ball of the innings into his stumps to fall for 18, and Kyle Verreynne, Quinton de Kock, Wiaan Mulder and Maharaj then contributed an aggregate 12 runs. 

Medium-pacer Mayers drew edges to get rid of Verreynne and Mulder and post figures of 3-19, before Van der Dussen and Rabada set about the rescue act.

They made batting look achievable, if not always easy, with Rabada the aggressor as he cracked five fours before lashing a ball of good length from Roach over long-on for six.

That saw him go past his Test-best of 34 not out, but his innings was soon over, Roach (4-52) taking his revenge as Rabada top-edged to Darren Bravo.

West Indies trundled to 15-0 in their second innings before fading light brought an end to play, still needing 309 more runs for victory.

Rabada revives flagging South Africa

Given West Indies' form with the bat in this short series, it was hard to imagine them successfully chasing anything above 200, but had they skittled their visitors for a double-figure total the energy behind such a performance might have inspired the home batsmen.

Rabada might not have fancied bowling at a team newly imbued with confidence, and he soon set about changing the complexion of the match, slapping away the ball to the boundary with gusto, particularly when he picked the moment to go deep off Roach.

Holder joins starry list

Holder became the latest man to reach the 50 catches, 1,000 runs and 100 wickets club, Cricinfo statistics showed.

The first to that all-round haul was England's Wilfred Rhodes, while the list includes the likes of luminaries Richie Benaud, Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Ben Stokes, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Jacques Kallis.