Cricket: W Indies suffer as fever hits Wallace

South Africa 245 & 195 West Indies 121 & 141 South Africa win by 178 runs

THE BELEAGUERED West Indies, 2-0 down in the series against South Africa after a 178-run second Test defeat, suffered a new blow yesterday when their opening batsman Philo Wallace was diagnosed with glandular fever.

"Philo has a bout of glandular fever and we will be keeping a close eye on him over the next few days," the West Indies team manager, Clive Lloyd, said.

But Lloyd said he was not considering calling for a replacement at this stage as Wallace could recover in time to play in the third Test, which starts at Kingsmead in Durban on 26 December. Wallace did not play in the second Test at St George's Park, which South Africa won on Saturday with more than two days to spare, because of a high temperature. Medical tests conducted yesterday confirmed the opening batsman had glandular fever.

Wallace's illness is the latest blow to a tour which began late after a pay and working conditions dispute between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board threatened to force its cancellation. No sooner had that problem been solved than the middle-order batsman Jimmy Adams and leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine returned home with injuries.

Seven games into the tour, which includes five Tests, the West Indies have yet to register a victory, and their captain, Brian Lara, is urging his West Indian team to put in more effort following their defeat inside three days.

Lara said that while he was disappointed, he had to praise the front- line bowlers, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh who, he said, had probably produced their best performances for five years in Port Elizabeth.

"But the chaps have got to realise that they are all wearing the West Indian badge on their caps," he added. "One doesn't mind if you are beaten by the better team and South Africa are the better team at this present time, but they are not taking five days to beat us. They are taking two and a half days, so we are going to have to start looking at these things."

South Africa on Saturday announced an unchanged squad of 12 for their third Test in Durban over Christmas.

(Third day; West Indies won toss)

SOUTH AFRICA - First Innings 245 (C Walsh 4-87).

WEST INDIES - First Innings 121 (S Pollock 5-43, D Terbrugge 3-27).

SOUTH AFRICA - Second innings

(Overnight: 143 for 5)

J Rhodes b Ambrose 64

S Pollock c Dillon b Ambrose 42

M Boucher c Hooper b Ambrose 1

P Symcox c Lambert b Ambrose 16

A Donald b Walsh 11

D Terbrugge not out 3

Extras (b1 lb5 nb9) 15

Total (63.5 overs) 195

Fall: 6-145 7-151 8-173 9-183.

Bowling: Ambrose 19-4-51-6; Walsh 23.5-5-58-3; Dillon 9-2-26-0; Hooper 7-0-35-0; McLean 5-0-19-0.

WEST INDIES - Second innings

C Lambert c Boucher b Donald 2

S Chanderpaul c Kallis b Pollock 16

R Jacobs lbw b Kallis 22

C Hooper run out 8

*B Lara c Kirsten b Donald 39

F Reifer c Cullinan b Donald 9

N McLean run out 1

S Williams lbw b Donald 8

C Ambrose c Pollock b Donald 16

M Dillon b Pollock 9

C Walsh not out 0

Extras (lb2 nb9) 11

Total 141

Fall: 1-3 2-40 3-54 4-57 5-68 6-69 7-77 8-132 9-141.

Bowling: Donald 14.2-4-49-5, Pollock 13-1-46-2 (nb7), Kallis 6-2-17-1 (nb2), Terbrugge 5-1-27-0.

Umpires: R Koertzen (SA) and D R Shepherd (Eng).

First Test (Johannesburg): South Africa won by four wickets. Third Test: (Durban, Dec 26-30). Fourth Test: (Cape Town, Jan 2-6). Final Test: (Centurion Park, Jan 15-19).