The third day of this fourth Test match has turned the game into something of a war of attrition. While the going was tremendously slow, with only 132 runs being scored for the entire day, South Africa are already leading by 229.

That is already ahead of the highest total ever made in the fourth innings at the Antigua Recreation Ground to win a Test match - the 216-9 made by the West Indies to beat Pakistan last year. It will now take some miraculous batting from the West Indies to save this game, much less win it.

With the sort of professionalism we have already seen from the visitors and the less than convincing effort in the first innings of this game by the West Indies, perhaps the South Africans already have enough runs to win this game.

According to Shaun Pollock, their captain, though, they are going to be safe before being sorry.

"We want to win the Test match," says Pollock, "but we also have to be careful about a declaration. I have not really set myself any number as a final total. I will want to give our bowlers time to get the West Indies out, but we shall see how the day goes on the fourth day."

In the morning session, the West Indies added only 10 more runs to their overnight score while losing their final four wickets, the eventual 140 all out being the lowest score made by either team for a completed innings in this series. Many thought that maybe Carl Hooper would at least lend some support to Ridley Jacobs, but Hooper left quickly and the tail soon disappeared, leaving Jacobs not out.

It has become depressingly difficult to describe the West Indies batting of late, after the second Test in Trinidad & Tobago and the third Test in Barbados, not to mention those on tour. Capitulation does not describe the West Indies first innings of this game. It was just rank poor batsmanship from the West Indies.

Lance Klusener and Pollock added to their tally of wickets to finish with 3-15 and 2-25, while Jacques Kallis chipped in with 2-24. It is of note that the lone spinner for South Africa, Nicky Boje, did not get a wicket in the West Indies first innings, despite the fact that the pitch is supposed to be taking spin.

South Africa soon lost the luckless Gary Kirsten, for 9 at 17-1, to a spitting delivery from Courtney Walsh, but Herschelle Gibbs, controversially given out caught at slip for 45, and Neil McKenzie, who is still not out on 44, put on 78 for the second wicket to put South Africa firmly in the drivers' seat.

It is almost impossible to think that South Africa would now even lose their last seven wickets, much less for the West Indies to get to a position of ascendancy. South Africa can now control the pace, probably setting the West Indies a minimum of 300 to win. On a pitch starting to play tricks, that would not be easy, especially batting last. That decision by Hooper to ask South Africa to bat first is going to come back to haunt him.

© CricInfo