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The West Indies put their noses in front in the first Cable & Wireless Test yesterday by pure perseverance.

It has not been one of their attributes of late and the way they kept their nerve and maintained their patience as South Africa threatened to run away with the lead on the third day was good to see.

Inspite of left-handed opener Gary Kristen's typically tenacious 150, they limited South Africa's powerful batting to 332, removing the last six wickets for 68, at Bourda Ground.

The advantage was a marginal 28 and, in keeping with the positive attitude evident from the first day, the tall left-handed openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds erased it with a volley of breathtaking boundaries.

Gayle, as he did in his first innings of 81, launched himself into six thumping off-side fours. Hinds was less audacious, limiting himself to three as the pair took 50 off the 15 overs available before close.

It left the match intriguingly balanced with two days remaining on a hard, dry, slow pitch of variable bounce.

Twice, two partnerships involving the seemingly immovable Kirsten seemed to be guiding South Africa to a commanding position when the West Indies restored the balance with a cluster of wickets in which all the bowlers were involved.

Kirsten and Jacques Kallis carried their overnight second-wicket partnership to 136 over the first hour-and-a-half and had sufficiently frustrated the West Indies that Dinanath Ramnarine was defensively twirling his leg-breaks from round the wicket into the rough outside leg-stump.

Then they had a lucky break with an umpiring error that led to the first shift in the balance.

Kirsten had advanced to his 12th Test hundred in his 69th Test and Kallis followed to his 50 with only the occasional alarm when umpire John Hampshire ruled Kallis lbw to Nixon McLean's off-cutter.

It did not need the television replay to confirm that the ball had flicked Kallis' inside edge on its way to his back pad. Kallis had batted four hours without a mistake and his demise opened up the susceptible Darryl Cullinan and Neil McKenzie to the wiles of Ramnarine, who was seldom mastered throughout his 23 overs in two spells on the day.

Cullinan's average of 43 in 66 Tests is that of a quality player, but leg-spin is well known to be his achilles heel, frequently exploited in the past by Shane Warne. He watched Ramnarine carefully before dancing down the pitch to lift confidently to the straight boundary.

Ramnarine had the ideal response, a perfectly pitched leg-break 20 minutes to lunch, that found the thin edge of Cullinan's defensive bat for Ridley Jacobs 96th Test catch and 100th victim.

McKenzie was even more ill at ease against Ramnarine.

He survived to lunch but, attempting an ungainly sweep shortly after resumption, was bowled round his legs.

Three wickets had fallen while 27 runs were added but, while Kirsten was well entrenched, Boucher could have gone at any time in his early exchanges with Ramnarine.

He was two when, turning the bat across a leg-break, he lobbed the ball agonisingly between bowler, extra-cover and mid-off. But it did not deter the adventurous wicket-keeper, who dominated a partnership of 76 with Kirsten that swung the advantage back towards South Africa's long batting team.

The pair forced Ramnarine out of the attack but the second new ball initiated another South African slide either side of tea in which the last six wickets tumbled for 68.

After seven hours, 25 minutes, Kirsten's top-edged cut provided Jacobs with another catch and the tireless Courtney Walsh with his 495th Test wicket.

Lance Klusener soon fell lbw to McLean, swinging ambitiously across the line, and Walsh collected his next scalp in the following over as Boucher missed his off-cutter and was lbw for 52 after two hours 20 minutes.

The three wickets had fallen for 13 from 4.1 overs and, for once, South Africa's formidable tail did not wag. Nicky Boje sliced Merv Dillon low to point, Ramnarine removed Alan Donald to a straightforward slip catch and Makaya Ntini was the third victim for Dillon and Jacobs.

It left Gayle and Hinds with what is always a ticklish time for opening batsmen except the bowlers were the ones tickled up.

© The Barbados Nation