South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.

Amla and Smith were quick off the mark

Amla and Smith opened up the batting for South Africa, and were quick off the mark punishing Taylor and Rampaul in the first 5 overs of the 3rd ODI. Both batsmen looked on form, picking boundaries and chasing singles. Amla had played his part and was dismissed for 34 in the 10th over when he chopped a deceiving delivery from Benn onto his stumps. Smith’s wicket followed in the 17th by LBW

AB the Anchor

The one dread (apart from the tidal wave) that I have when on tour, is to wake up late and miss the transport to the ground and in doing so, keep other people waiting. So when I retired to bed last night I covered as many angles as possible by setting my alarm on my cell phone as well as asking reception to please call me at 06h00. I needn’t have bothered because apart from the constant noise of the waves lapping against the shore immediately outside my room, which tends to induce slumber rather than disturb it, there is a cockerel within close proximity of the hotel.

This morning, after breakfast and having at last finished Fatty Batter, I set out on the reasonably simple task of acquiring a ‘top up’ for my new pay-as-you-go Digicel sim card recently acquired for the island of Dominica. You see, if you don’t get a new sim card at every destination then you get into this whole roaming thing which is apparently very expensive. To me these are merely cyber words that I don’t understand but feel that I should take notice of.

Long gone are the days when South African fans were satisfied with victory. As I said a couple of days ago, it is impossible to please everybody all of the time. The Proteas two nil up in the five match ODI series and there are as many questions being asked as congratulations being offered.

‘Nature’ Island as Dominica is affectionately known is a volcanic island and very mountainous. Therefore, in direct contrast to Antigua’s white sand and picture postcard beaches with tourists looking for a beautiful tan, lazy days around the pool bar and pinacolada’s, Dominica is an island of black sand beaches and eco tourists in search of volcanic evidence, hot springs, rain forests, hiking, bird watching, whale & dolphin watching although diving off this island is highly recommended for those who aren’t terrified of a freak tidal wave.

After sending off yesterday’s blog, I joined Jeff Dujon, Tony Cozier and Ian Bishop for a beer or two at the pool bar. The main topic of discussion was the state of West Indies cricket and whether or not Keiron Pollard should be considered as a Test cricketer and not regarded as a one day slogger. I certainly think that he has the merit to play Test cricket and so does Tony. Jeff and Ian feel that all the potential is there but the chances are that the selectors will hold on him for the moment but did not rule out the possibility of Keiron playing in this Test series at some stage.