West Indians beaten inside three days

West Indies' confidence took a severe battering ahead of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa, as they were defeated inside three days by the host's A team in their only warm-up game in East London. The fragile West Indian batting order failed to bat through a day for the second time in the match, leaving South Africa A a feeble target of 37, which they achieved without losing a wicket.

The West Indians were dismissed in 65.1 overs in the first innings and lasted marginally longer in the second, scoring 214 off 78.3 overs. Monde Zondeki, who had taken 5 for 39 in the first innings, ripped through the top order once again, taking 3 for 61 before Johan Botha mopped up the tail with 4 for 20. The West Indians were facing a humiliating innings defeat at one stage; they were 118 for 6 before their captain Dwayne Bravo bailed them out by scoring 67 with assistance from Darren Sammy, who contributed 57.

The third day began with South Africa A on 351 for 7, sitting on a 158-run lead. Justin Ontong was unbeaten on 109 but he managed to add only 5 more runs to his score before running out of partners. Bravo converted his overnight 3 for 43 into a six-for by dismissing the tailenders in quick succession but the West Indians, facing a deficit of 178, were firmly on the back foot.

Their bad situation got worse when both openers - Daren Ganga and Devon Smith - fell in successive overs with the score on 5. They desperately needed a substantial innings from Shivnarine Chanderpaul - he has played several this year - after Runako Morton and Marlon Samuels fell cheaply. However, Zondeki induced an edge to the wicketkeeper, Morne van Wyk, to cut short Chanderpaul's innings to 9 off 43 balls. Bravo and Sammy then struck half-centuries and added 87 for the seventh wicket to take West Indies into the lead. But once Botha dismissed Bravo, he picked up the last three wickets within the space of four overs.

South Africa A made short work of their target and prevented the game from spilling over into the final day. van Wyk and Alviro Petersen knocked off 39 runs in nine overs to take the team to their second consecutive victory against a touring side. They had beaten New Zealand by 85 runs in November.