Bavuma, who registered “a pair” in the first Test and shouldered arms in the first innings to be trapped lbw, gradually grew into his innings, taking advantage when the West Indies strayed too straight with their lines.
There were some lovely flicks off his legs through the leg side, and few elegant glances to the fine leg boundary.
In Rickelton it appeared he’d found a solid partner, but the Lions’ left-hander, who has been in prolific form domestically, found the step up to Test level asks a lot more questions of one’s concentration and technique.
His strength is his play through the off-side, but at the highest level it can also be an area for the opposition bowlers to exploit and the West Indies did that well, hanging deliveries outside off stump and testing his patience.
Eventually Rickelton succumbed on the stroke of lunch with a lazy waft at the ball, much like in the first innings.
South Africa may have the runs on the board, but it’s not like this wicket played many tricks in the morning.
It remains a good one to bat on and they will need to add at least 100 runs to their lead before they can begin to feel comfortable.
Temba Bavuma dragging Proteas out of trouble at the Wanderers
Image: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
Skipper Temba Bavuma will have to continue his salvaging mission after the lunch break as he tries to steady the Proteas ship following the loss of four second innings wickets on Friday morning.
Bavuma weathered a furious charge by the West Indies going to lunch on 35 not out, helping his side to recover from 32/2 to reach the break on 69/4 and extending the Proteas lead to 138 runs.
The loss of Ryan Rickelton on the stroke of the interval turned the session decisively the tourists way, with the left-hander wafting at a wideish delivery from part-timer Raymon Reifer after scoring only 10.
The West Indies got off to the perfect start, with Kyle Mayers taking a wicket with the fourth ball of the day.
It was Dean Elgar who seemed to forget the match had started and offered one of those catching practice shots, guiding the ball to Roston Chase in the gully, who juggled before holding onto the ball.
Tony de Zorzi, too, gifted his wicket to the visitors with a nothing stroke, neither attacking, defending or leaving, getting a bottom edge onto his stumps to Mayers his second wicket.
Aiden Markram and Bavuma then briefly stemmed the tide, with the former hitting some crisp drives during a partnership of 24.
But Kemar Roach then produced a peach, finding the right length to bring Markram, who scored 18, forward and getting the ball to nip away off the seam, finding the edge, with wicketkeeper Joshua da Silva doing the rest.
Bavuma, who registered “a pair” in the first Test and shouldered arms in the first innings to be trapped lbw, gradually grew into his innings, taking advantage when the West Indies strayed too straight with their lines.
There were some lovely flicks off his legs through the leg side, and few elegant glances to the fine leg boundary.
In Rickelton it appeared he’d found a solid partner, but the Lions’ left-hander, who has been in prolific form domestically, found the step up to Test level asks a lot more questions of one’s concentration and technique.
His strength is his play through the off-side, but at the highest level it can also be an area for the opposition bowlers to exploit and the West Indies did that well, hanging deliveries outside off stump and testing his patience.
Eventually Rickelton succumbed on the stroke of lunch with a lazy waft at the ball, much like in the first innings.
South Africa may have the runs on the board, but it’s not like this wicket played many tricks in the morning.
It remains a good one to bat on and they will need to add at least 100 runs to their lead before they can begin to feel comfortable.
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