West Indies collapse in sight of victory - but should still win

While Australia continue to stroll towards victory in Melbourne, at least West Indies are showing us how to win with style. Well placed an hour before the close of the third day in their Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, some 330 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand in their second innings, the Windies had one of those truly nasty collapses that only they and England can have, dropping from 122 for two to 144 for eight. And yet, at 359 runs ahead, they should still win. The highest run-chase at the ground in the 118 years it has staged Test cricket is 271.

If anything, the collapse may have increased the chance of a West Indies win, removing any reticence about when to declare. Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards, the remaining batsmen, will be told to make the best use of their meagre batting talents as quickly as possible before resuming their normal roles and attempting to make inroads into South Africa before lunch.

The thing I have been most impressed with is Chris Gayle's flagrant disregard for the usual convention that a captain should be a bit more careful when he bats, especially if he opens the innings, than usual. Gayle put the game just about beyond reach today when, having patiently waited a full nine balls, he hit Dale Steyn for 19 runs in the fifth over, including a top-edged six over fine leg. His innings of 29 off 22 balls was scored at a similar rate to his 66 off 49 balls in the first innings. It made up for the turgid yawnsome batting of Darren Ganga, who had raced to four by the tenth over and scored 45 of a couple of thousand balls, or so it seemed, before being run out. In fact, these two complement each other well. Caution and flair seem the ideal blend at the top of the order for West Indies.