Jason Holder fought hard with his unbeaten 81, but that wasn’t enough for the West Indies as South Africa managed to take a sizeable lead of 69 on Day II of the second and final Test at The Wanderers.

At stumps on Thursday, South Africa were four without loss in their second innings, having extended their lead to 73.

For the Windies, it was purely due to seamer all-rounder Holder that they could reach 251 in their first innings, after that of South Africa ended at 320.

The Proteas looked all set to take a 100-plus lead when the Windies were nine down for 193 and trailing by 127. But Holder kept resisting with his strokeplay and with good support from No.11 Gudakesh Motie (17), the Windies stitched 58 in their last-wicket pair to cut down South Africa’s lead.

The Wanderers pitch certainly has a fair amount of assistance for the bowlers. But having said that, hardly any of the other Windies batsmen could even come close to showing the kind of application which was noticed in Holder’s batting.

The likes of Roston Chase (28), Kyle Mayers (29) and wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva (26) were all set but couldn’t carry on. The situation was such that Holder had to take chances and do the bulk of the scoring as he ran out of partners.

His execution, however, turned out to be perfect, especially during his last-wicket stand with Motie, who also managed to hit three boundaries. Holder’s 117-ball knock comprised eight boundaries and four maximums.

Among the South African bowlers, young quick Gerald Coetzee finished with the best figures, taking three for 41 while senior pacer Kagiso Rabada took 2/19. Off-spinner Simon Harmer also struck twice.

Brief scores: South Africa 320 (A. Joseph 3/60) & 4/0. West Indies 251 (J. Holder 81 n.o.; G. Coetzee 3/41, K. Rabada 2/19). At stumps, Day II.

Written with Reuters inputs