Cape Town: Dean Elgar guided South Africa to a series-clinching victory by eight wickets on the fifth day of the third and final Test against the West Indies at Newlands on Tuesday.
South Africa won the series by two matches to nil, with one match finishing in a rain-affected draw. The left-handed Elgar made 60 not out as South Africa reached a victory target of 124 shortly before lunch.
It was tough going for South Africa at the start of the day after they resumed on nine for one.
Fast bowler Jerome Taylor and left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn did not concede a run until Elgar pulled Taylor for four after 26 minutes and off the 45th ball of the day. The tall Benn was particularly difficult to score off, getting turn and bounce from a wearing pitch, with Faf du Plessis completely tied down. Benn, who bowled Alviro Petersen with the last ball of the fourth day, did not give up a run until Du Plessis took a single off the fifth ball of his sixth over.
In another match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, Kane Williamson and BJ Watling slammed the door on Sri Lanka in the second Test in Wellington on Tuesday. Williamson’s unbeaten 242, with Watling not out 142 rescued New Zealand from a deep hole and carried them to 524-5 declared in their second innings. Sri Lanka were left facing a 390-run target on a ground where the record for a successful fourth innings chase is 277-3 set by Pakistan 11 years ago. At stumps they were 45-1 with Kaushal Silva on 20 and Dhammika Prasad on one. Dimuth Karunaratne was out for 17 four overs before the close to be the only dismissal of the day.(PTI)
