Ken Borland

A lot of sand has disappeared down the hourglass and a ton of hard work has been put in since South Africa’s last away Test series triumph, but Keshav Maharaj was again at the centre of the success as his hat-trick and five-wicket haul bowled the Proteas to a 158-run win and a 2-0 series result against the West Indies at St Lucia on Monday.

South Africa last won an away Test series against New Zealand in March 2017, with Maharaj the man of the match for his six for 40 in the second innings of the only Test they won, in Wellington. The left-arm spinner was the hero again on Monday as he claimed only the second hat-trick for South Africa in Test history.

Maharaj struck in the penultimate over before lunch, dismissing Kieran Powell (51), Jason Holder (0) and Joshua de Silva (0) with successive deliveries as Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen and Wiaan Mulder took catches of increasing difficulty as the West Indies collapsed from 90 for two to 107 for six. Chasing 324, they were eventually all out for 165 with Maharaj finishing with five for 36 in 17.3 overs and Kagiso Rabada taking three for 44.

Opener Powell looked in the mood to stick around, but then suddenly decided to tee-up Maharaj and slog-swept him straight to Nortje at deep midwicket. The tall Holder then inside-edged his first ball on to his pad from where it rebounded quickly to short-leg, Petersen taking a sharp catch quite high to his left.

The hat-trick ball saw Mulder snatch a marvellous one-handed grab at leg-slip, diving to his right, as Da Silva tickled Maharaj around the corner.

South Africa’s only other Test hat-trick came in 1960 when fast bowler Geoff Griffin performed the feat against England at Lord’s.

“There were so many thoughts going through my head before the third wicket as to what delivery to bowl, and in the end it just drifted down leg, it could have been a much better ball. But credit to Wiaan for an amazing catch, whatever he wants to eat or drink tonight is probably on me. I didn’t realise our last away series win was as far back as 2017, so this feels really good.

“As a team we want to move in a different direction and this was the first obstacle, so it’s really good to get over it. We want to be the polished article and to keep being ruthless is really important for this team. Fair play too to our fast bowlers, who were superb. They just don’t give the batsmen an inch, so they tried to score off me and I reaped the rewards,” Maharaj said.

Kagiso Rabada provided the fire up front with three wickets but it was spinner Keshav Maharaj who made the key strikes as he claimed only the second hat-trick for South Africa in Test history to send the West Indies plummeting to 109 for six at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test at St Lucia.

The left-arm spinner removed Kieran Powell (51), Jason Holder (0) and Joshua de Silva (0) with successive deliveries in the penultimate over before lunch, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen and Wiaan Mulder taking catches of increasing difficulty to help Maharaj to the wonderful achievement.

Opener Powell looked in the mood to stick around as the West Indies went in search of a steep target of 324 for victory, but then suddenly decided to tee-up Maharaj and slog-swept him straight to Nortje at deep midwicket. The tall Holder then inside-edged his first ball on to his pad from where it rebounded quickly to short-leg, Petersen taking a sharp catch quite high to his left.

The hat-trick ball saw Mulder snatch a marvellous one-handed grab at leg-slip, diving to his right, as Da Silva tickled Maharaj around the corner.

South Africa’s only other Test hat-trick came in 1960 when fast bowler Geoff Griffin performed the feat against England at Lord’s.

Despite Maharaj’s success, the St Lucia pitch continues to be a haven for fast bowling and Rabada was outstanding up front as he had West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite (6) caught in the slips in his second over of the day.

A vicious, superbly-directed short ball then saw Shai Hope (2) glove a catch to the slips, while Kyle Mayers looked set for bigger things but eventually succumbed to some fine pressure bowling on 34 when he skied a wild pull at a delivery outside off stump from Rabada and Proteas captain Dean Elgar took his second well-judged catch of the morning.

Jermaine Blackwood survived through to lunch on 5 not out, while Kemar Roach is on one. The West Indies were only too happy for the sanctuary of the changeroom after their collapse from 90 for two, losing four wickets for 17 runs, left them still needing 215 runs to level the series with just four wickets standing.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber on Monday preached caution when it came to reading too much into how the Bulls’ shock hammering in the Rainbow Cup final could translate into the fortunes of the national team against the British and Irish Lions.

The Bulls, the dominant force in South African domestic rugby, played against Benetton in Treviso at the weekend and were thrashed 35-8 by a team that is certainly not considered to be one of the powerhouses of Europe. But Nienaber preferred to focus on the positive of local players gaining experience of what playing against teams from the Northern Hemisphere is like.

“I can’t comment on the Bulls’ plans because I don’t have insight into those, but Rassie Erasmus and I have said in the past that the Rainbow Cup is a good competition, not watered down like some people think. There are no weak teams and you have to have your ducks in a row. It’s a bit different to what we are used to, it’s a lot more tactical with every country being different.

“But club rugby does not always show the strength of your national set-up, like in 2019 none of our Super Rugby franchises made the final. So there’s no direct link to the Springboks, either positive or negative. But why we were so keen from a national point of view to get our teams into that competition is because you have to adapt week-in, week-out to different teams, styles of play, coaches and weather. It’s like in the World Cup when we had to adapt from playing Japan to playing Wales,” Nienaber said from Bloemfontein on Monday.

As the alignment phase of the national camp neared completion with next week being a Test week ahead of the match against Georgia on July 2 at Loftus Versfeld, Nienaber said this week provides an opportunity for the squad to bank some conditioning work.

“We’ve been getting everyone aligned in terms of our lingo and strategy, and now it’s time to raise the intensity. It’s an important week, the last week before Test week, and we can put a nice load on the players with an additional focus on conditioning. We just have to get used to the international rugby game again – the pace and physicality.

“It’s going to be a tough ask though for Cheslin Kolbe and Rynhardt Elstadt to play against Georgia next week because they play in the French Top 14 final this weekend and then they have their second Covid vaccination on Sunday before flying here on Monday, arriving maybe Tuesday. I don’t think it’s enough time for them to prepare and get back into our way of playing,” Nienaber said of the star Toulouse duo.

The return of fiery fast bowler Shannon Gabriel to the West Indies squad suggests the home side’s response to their thrashing in the first Test at St Lucia will be less of a dignified one and more ferocious in nature when the second Test begins at the same venue on Friday, and Proteas captain Dean Elgar said he is expecting nothing less.

South Africa’s only selection issue is whether batsman Temba Bavuma has recovered from his hip problem, in which case he will come in for Kyle Verreynne.

While their dismal batting was the West Indies’ biggest problem, and they have recalled the experienced Darren Bravo to try help, their bowling attack can certainly do with the venom of Gabriel, who took 13 wickets at Gros Islet against Sri Lanka in June 2018, the best ever figures at the ground.

“I know how a team tends to bounce back at home and we definitely expect that from the West Indies. We’re definitely not taking anything for granted and the West Indies will be coming back with a plan. We have one win in the bag so far, but we can’t stop now, we want another win and to make it 2-0 would be great. Just one win has already taken us so far, so imagine what two will do?” Elgar said on Thursday.

South Africa have themselves always relied on their pace bowlers to spearhead their efforts and, with tropical showers around the island of St Lucia this week, Elgar believes the Proteas attack could once again be their trumpcard.

“The bowlers led the pack in the first Test, the words clinical and ruthless spring to mind, and the pitch looks similar to that one. There’s also been a bit of rain around, so maybe the wicket will be a bit softer and it seems to have the same grass cover. That means in the third and fourth innings there could be indentations and when our big fast bowlers hit those, that’s when the ball reacts from an up-and-down point of view.

“We have a well-spoken-about plan, but we have one of the best spinners in world cricket too, Keshav Maharaj plus three fast bowlers and an all-rounder, that’s my idea of the old South African way. It was great to see them stick to the plan so well in the first Test, when maybe we’ve been searching a bit lately. We’re happy to have the same sort of pitch again and if any bowling unit is going to get something out of it, it would be ours,” Elgar said.