Ramdin leads WI fightback after Harmer's triple strikes

Debutant off-spinner Simon Harmer took three wickets before West Indian captain Denesh Ramdin led a fightback against South Africa on the first day of the third and final Test at Newlands yesterday

Cape Town: Debutant off-spinner Simon Harmer took three wickets before West Indian captain Denesh Ramdin led a fightback against South Africa on the first day of the third and final Test at Newlands yesterday.

SA's debutant Simon Harmer celebrates taking a West Indies wicket yesterday. Pic/AFP.

At stumps at Newlands, West Indies, who are attempting to square the series, were 276 for six. Ramdin (53) and Jermaine Blackwood (45 not out) put on 94 for the sixth wicket to enable the tourists to finish with a respectable total after it seemed they had squandered the advantage of winning the toss and batting first on an easy-paced pitch.

Harmer took three for 67 and was mainly responsible for the West Indies slipping to 172 for five, dismissing Devon Smith, Leon Johnson and Shivnarine Chanderpaul during an impressive first day of Test cricket.

Harmer, 25, replaced leg-spinner Imran Tahir in the only change from the South African team that played in the rain-hit drawn second Test in Port Elizabeth.

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