After drawing with Griqualand West and losing to Free State, to South Africa, and then to an Eastern Province XI in a one-day contest, this game is important to the tourists who need to win a match as they prepare for the second Test starting in Port Elizabeth on December 10.
The talk around East London, however, is not about who will win the match, but more about the performance of Makhaya Ntini - the 21-year-old black pacer who missed the first Test in Johannesburg.
The first player from the United Cricket Board of South Africa's development programme to represent South Africa, Ntini was not selected for the first Test and the black community is up in arms and demanding his selection for the Port Elizabeth Test.
For Ntini, who has appeared in four Test matches and has taken 10 wickets, to get in, however, he has to bowl well over the next three days. In fact, with Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock automatic selections for the Test match and David Terbrugge enjoying a good debut performance, even though there is a move to select a non-white regardless, Ntini will have to do more than bowl well - he will have to bowl very well.
Ntini is not the only player on trial. With Stuart Williams failing to perform in the first Test, he also is on trial and so too are Floyd Reifer and Darren Ganga.
Up to press time, the West Indies had not yet named their team for the match, but it is almost certain that all three will be in action as the selectors appear set to give them a chance to decide their own destinies.
Williams, who scored 12 against Guateng XI in Soweto in the one-day match which opened the tour, 11 against Griqualand West, 25 and 52 against Free State, 35 and 12 in the Test, and 20 on Wednesday, could lose his place. That, however, could depend on the performance of either Ganga, who scored 18 in Soweto, 50 against Griqualand West, and one on Wednesday, or Reifer, who scored 93 on Wednesday in his only appearance so far on the tour.
The blacks of East London are cheering for Ntini and because of his record, the Caribbean fans here are rooting not for Williams, but for either Ganga or Reifer.