Watch cricket video highlights of South Africa of West Indies 2024 first test between West Indies vs South Africa. Venue of the match will be Port of Spain.
It’s going to spin, according to everything. Prior to the match, South Africa’s Test coach Shukri Conrad stated, “The question is how early or how late in the game it’s going to spin.” In addition to having a surface that Conrad called “devoid of grass,” the West Indies have selected three front-line spinners in their lineup, which South Africa has seen as a direct signal to anticipate slow, dry pitches. Unless the weather provides some help, it may eliminate the pace danger on both sides.
For all five days of the Test, rains are predicted, mostly in the late afternoon. It looks like the first and fifth days will be the most impacted. On match night, South Africa revealed their starting lineup. It will be Lungi Ngidi’s first Test match since December 2022; the other two seamers are Rabada and Wiaan Mulder. Keshav Maharaj was the only bowler with spin, while Dane Piedt, the second spinner, was left out of the starting XI.
Nandre Burger was also left out. Ryan Rickelton is effectively an additional batsman for South Africa, who has sacrificed a bowler in order to extend their batting innings. Roach has returned as the spearhead of the attack after missing the Tests against England owing to injury, while Alzarri Joseph has been rested for this series. Roach last participated in a Test match in January, but he has since been active for Surrey, taking 18 wickets in six games. In the Champions XI’s warm-up match against South Africa, he bowled 13 overs with a total of 0 for 35.
Shamar will not be participating since they have chosen to adopt a twin-spin assault, with Jomel Warrican partnering fellow left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie. It’s confirmed that Keacy Carty will make his Test debut, perhaps at number three. Bryan Charles, the uncapped offspinner, has not been favored over Warrican. The ascent of Kavem Hodge, who struck 71 against Australia in Brisbane and 120 against England in Nottingham and Birmingham, is one of the pleasant outcomes of the West Indies’ previous two tours.
It is easy to argue that Hodge has been the most reliable West Indies player of late, and that might put additional burden on his shoulders given that the other hitters have found it difficult to score runs on a regular basis. However, West Indies is making a concerted effort to lower that. Head coach Andre Coley told that Hodge should keep playing the way he has been playing and that he won’t raise his expectations.
Hodge has previously repelled onslaught from Australia and England, so it will be intriguing to watch how he does against South Africa’s at home. David Bedingham has only played four Test matches, but he has already established himself as a key member of the South African starting lineup. And it’s understandable why. Ever since his century against New Zealand in February, he has been making runs on the county circuit.
With 926 runs in 14 innings for Durham, Bedingham is presently leading run scorer in the Championship, which is little over halfway through. He enters this Test series in outstanding form and has amassed five hundreds, four of which he achieved in consecutive innings against Somerset, Lancashire (two in two innings), and Hampshire. Prior to the West Indies tour, Bedingham suffered a minor hamstring injury. However, he scored 84 in the practice match and is anticipated to be a key member of this lineup.
An intense rivalry that began in a single Test match in 1992 has cooled out to become a one-sided contest, with South Africa winning 22 of the 32 games and defeating the West Indies in only three. They last lost a match against the West Indies 17 years ago, and they have never lost a Test series (with the focus being on numerous matches in a visit). Prior to the first Test at Port of Spain, the hosts West Indies would feel that anything is possible in this series since this is not the South Africa of the mid-2000s, when they ruled the away-from-home arena.
The first Test series defeat by New Zealand, which happened just six months old despite the fact that the South African team was improvised, revealed something about the altering dynamics of long-format depth. With just seven red-ball contests every season for their provincial players, South Africa has opted to allocate the majority of its resources into financially profitable cricket. Conversely, West Indies keeps investing money in creating the elite game.
The West Indies play red-ball cricket at the Under-17 and Under-19 levels, as well as at the academy level, despite having an island-based domestic system that costs more to operate than anyplace else in the world. Whether they are benefiting from this system is debatable. While South Africa did not win in Australia in 2022–2023; in contrast, the West Indies defeated Australia in a Test match in January for the first time in over 20 years.
However, since defeating Bangladesh in 2022, the squad has not triumphed in a series against a World Test Championship (WTC) side. Prior to it, they won a series against England, something South Africa had not done since 2012. Weight for weight, both teams’ recent performance indicates there isn’t much between them as they both go into yet another rebuilding phase against the background of the T20 league’s ongoing growth. They also match each other similarly in terms of personnel.
Both teams have batting lineups that feature rookies looking to make an impression: Tony de Zorzi and Tristan Stubbs for South Africa, and Mikyle Louis for the West Indies. Though none of them have made the final XIs, both teams have some feisty young players in Shamar Joseph and Nandre Burger in addition to a seasoned seamer in Kemar Roach and Kagiso Rabada. Additionally, both are vying for points in this WTC round. That may, at the at least, indicate that this is the most competitive match between these two teams in thirty years, which would be a very satisfying result.
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