Jason Holder’s impressive performance revives West Indies’ hopes in the second Test against South Africa

West Indies’ Jason Holder’s unbeaten 81 in vain as South Africa take 69-run lead in second Test at The Wanderers

On the second day of the second and final Test at The Wanderers, Jason Holder fought hard with his unbeaten 81, but it wasn’t enough for the West Indies as South Africa managed to take a sizeable lead of 69. At stumps on Thursday, South Africa were four without loss in their second innings, having extended their lead to 73.

Seamer all-rounder Holder’s resistance allowed the Windies to reach 251 in their first innings after South Africa’s innings ended at 320. With the Windies nine down for 193 and trailing by 127, Holder, with support from No.11 Gudakesh Motie (17), stitched 58 in their last-wicket pair to cut down South Africa’s lead.

The Wanderers pitch has a fair amount of assistance for the bowlers, but only Holder managed to show the kind of application needed in the batting. The likes of Roston Chase, Kyle Mayers and wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva were all set but couldn’t carry on.

The situation was such that Holder had to take chances and do the bulk of the scoring as he ran out of partners. Among the South African bowlers, young quick Gerald Coetzee finished with the best figures, taking three for 41 while senior pacer Kagiso Rabada took 2/19. Off-spinner Simon Harmer also struck twice.