South Africa v West Indies 1st Test, The Wanderers, Johannesburg

Day 1: Pollock puts South Africa on top

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 26 (AFP) - An early burst of three wickets by Shaun Pollock gave South Africa the advantage on the first day of the first Test against West Indies at the Wanderers on Thursday. The West Indies were 249 for seven at the close.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul played a dogged innings of 74 but the tourists were unable to recover fully from their early setbacks.

Pollock had the West Indies reeling at 41 for three when he dismissed Clayton Lambert, Philo Wallace and Brian Lara after Lara won the toss and decided to bat on what looked a good batting pitch.

Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper stopped the collapse when they put on 91 for the fourth wicket before Hooper was caught at first slip off Allan Donald for 44.

Pollock, newly-appointed vice-captain to Hansie Cronje, finished the d ay with figures of three for 51 but it could have been better if he had held three sharp caught and bowled chances.

He had Lambert caught behind for 16 and then bowled Wallace, after dropping him on nought, and Lara. Pollock later dropped Carl Hooper and Nixon McLean.

Hooper offered a chance to Pollock before he had scored. He went on to make 44 in a fourth-wicket stand of 91 with Chanderpaul despite batting with a runner for most of his innings after suffering a groin strain when he slipped while stretching forward to play a defensive shot against Jacques Kallis.

Hooper handed out harsh punishment to Donald, hitting South Africa's ace fast bowler for four fours in five balls. Donald struggled to find the right length on an unusually slow Wanderers pitch but came back strongly after conceding 57 runs in his first 11 overs.

Donald made the breakthrough when Hooper was well caught at first slip by Daryl Cullinan and he later trapped Chanderpaul lbw.

Chanderpaul showed the application which has made him one of the most consistent batsmen in the West Indian team as he passed 50 for the 18th time in 31 Tests.

He reached his half-century off 125 balls but then spent an hour adding just another three runs. He eventually batted for 273 minutes, facing 210 balls and hitting 10 fours.

The West Indies lower-order batsmen provided unexpected resistance with new wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs struggling for 81 minutes and 48 balls to make 14, while McLean made a valuable 23 not out. McLean was dropped by Pollock on 20.

New cap David Terbrugge bowled impressively for South Africa, showing tight control at a lively pace. He took the wicket of Stuart Williams, who mistimed a pull to mid-on, and conceded just 32 runs off 16 overs.

He was given the second new ball but sent down only one over before leaving the field with a slight side strain.

Terbrugge, 21, could be the answer to South Afrrica's quest for a steady pace bowler to back up the strike pair of Donald and Pollock but his selection ahead of black bowler Makhaya Ntini was controversial.

With spinner Paul Adams being named 12th man, South Africa fielded no players of colour for the first time since Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board, said earlier this year that it was no longer acceptable to have an all-white team.

Responding to criticism by Mvuso Mbebe, chief executive of the National Sports Council, Bacher issued a statement Thursday saying he was ``disappointed'' at the selection.

The selectors had informed him that ``due to loss of form and injury to players of colour who were in contention for the team, they were unable to select these players.''

The issue will be debated by the UCB on December 5.

``I am confident that a clear selection policy with parameters that the national selection panel must adhere to will emerge from that meeting,'' said Bacher.

The West Indies selected replacement leg-spinner Rawl Lewis, who arrived on Thursday morning after being summoned from the West Indies A tour of India.