South Africa seamer Wiaan Mulder gave slight edge to his team at stumps on Day 1 of the second Test against West Indies on Thursday, August 15 at Providence Stadium, Guyana.
The right-arm seamer registered figures of 4/18 to dismantle the West Indies batting and left them reeling at 97/7 at stumps trailing by 63 runs in the first innings. Earlier in the day, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat first. However, his openers Tony de Zorzi and Aiden Markram failed to vindicate his decision by losing their stumps against Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph respectively.
As a result, the Proteas were left reeling at 20/2 after 10.3 overs. Captain Bavuma (0 off 2) failed to trouble the scorers as he got trapped in front of the stumps by Joseph. After three quick blows, Tristan Stubbs and David Bedingham got involved in a crucial stand for the fourth wicket to stabilize the innings.
Shamar Joseph runs through South Africa
However, they failed to extend it beyond 37 with Jason Holder getting rid of Stubbs for 26 (65). Bedingham (28) also failed to convert his start and fell prey to Joseph to managed to find his edge which went straight to Joshua Da Silva. The right-arm speedster further shattered the stumps of Keshav Maharaj and Kyle Verreyne (21) to register third five wicket haul (5/33) of his career.
Dane Piedt (38*) and Nandre Burger (23) made some valuable contributions in the end to take their team to the score of 160. Jayden Seales also picked up 3/45 for West Indies.
Wiaan Mulder leads South Africa’s fightback
Having just 160 runs in the bank, South Africa made sure they kept the opposition on the back foot right from the word go as Nandre Burger started the proceedings by dismissing Mikyle Louis for a six-ball duck. Wiaan Mulder also joined the party as he ran through the West Indies batting order dismissing Kraigg Brathwaite (3 off 19) , Alick Athanaze (1 off 7) and Kavem Hodge (4 off 5) to leave the hosts reeling at 43/4.
Burger (2/32) further sent Keacy Carty (26 off 37) on his way to the pavilion while Mulder also accounted for Joshua Da Silva (4 off 10) to further pile on the misery for the West Indies. With six wickets down on 56, Jason Holder (33*) tried to weather the storm and cashed on every scoring opportunity.
He got involved in a crucial 41-run stand with Gudakesh Motie (11 off 25). However, Keshav Maharaj once again brought Windies back in the game trapping Motie in front of the stumps. As a result, West Indies were left reeling at 97/7 at stumps on Day 1 which saw a whopping 17 wickets fall.