The match was already having this option draw strong after we lost first days play, and then we have slow batting from the South African in second days play but things gone interesting on last day as we have good approach for the win from the South Africa because their batting and then bowling done good job for them, but we have strong resistance from the Holder and Alick Athanaze who out on 92 runs this was match saving inning from this young batsman.
Keshav Maharaj done impressive job for the South Africa in this match as he bowled 66.2 overs and having 8 wickets this is surely the best performance from him for his team cause even we lost five sessions in this test match but still we have interesting end this is showing how things are going for the South Africa they are giving their best for test format to have good results and entertaining games for the cricket lovers.
Keshav Maharaj has done an amazing job for South Africa over the years. But unfortunately his performance was not enough to guarantee a win for South Africa. In the second innings, he bowled 26.2 overs, out of a total of 56.2. That is almost 47% of the total overs. If not for the rain, they could have won. But in the end only the outcome matters. Alick Athanaze was the savior for West Indies. When Kavem Hodge got out, they were at 127/4 with 20-25 overs remaining. Athanaze and Jason Holder made sure that the match ended as a draw.
South Africa tried desperately to get the result and batted at a healthy run rate of around 6 RPO in the 2nd innings. West Indies only needed to survive 63 overs which were considerably easy in a test match. After a shaky start, WI better did their best to stitch the partnership and stay at the crease as long as possible. Alick Athanaze played beautifully and saved WI from a defeat, but he missed his maiden test hundred by just 8 runs. Maharaj bowled exceptionally well in both innings and was nominated as player of the match for the first test.
I never imagined that the West Indies players would turn the game so easily, coming out of the shell of defeat, they certainly protested in the second innings of this first match. Usually the players of the Ostends team are patient and the players of the other teams panic, which was the case in this second match.
But generally I appreciate the aggressive performance of the batsmen, Alick Athanaze scored more runs in a short period of time as he scored 92 runs which turned the match around. And the latter players provide a lot of support due to which they were caught very easily in this match.
But of course we are looking forward to the second test match when this match starts two teams with maximum performance will try to win. So we wait till the end of the game and enjoy which team performs, but must be aggressive in terms of bowling and batting to win.
