West Indies on top after three strikes

The West Indies claimed three early South African wickets as they moved into a strong position on the fourth day of the first Test at St George's Park.

Set 389 to win, South Africa were floundering at 45 for three at lunch.

Daren Powell dismissed Herschelle Gibbs for his second duck of the match and fellow fast bowler Fidel Edwards built up impressive pace to claim the wickets of Hashim Amla and South African captain Graeme Smith as South Africa slumped to 20 for three.

Earlier the West Indies scored 29 runs before losing their last two wickets to be all out for 175. Jerome Taylor made a hard-hit 22 before he was last man out. Left-arm spinner Paul Harris took both wickets to finish with four for 35.

South Africa, seeking to better their highest winning fourth innings total of 340 for five against Australia in 2001/02, made a bad start when Gibbs padded up to Powell in the third over.

The ball was only marginally outside his off stump and was angling in to the stumps and umpire Aleem Dar had no hesitation in giving Gibbs out.

Edwards, who did not take a wicket in the first innings, had Amla caught behind with the batsman getting a faint edge to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin as he pushed at the ball outside off stump.

Edwards had Smith jumping when he bowled a bouncer. He repeated the delivery and Smith was caught by short leg fielder Daren Ganga as the ball looped off the handle of his bat, with Ganga making good ground to take the ball in front of the batsman.

Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince stemmed the tide of wickets, putting on 25 runs before the interval.

SCOREBOARD
West Indies 1st innings 408
South Africa 1st innings 195
West Indies 2nd innings
C. Gayle c Boucher b Ntini 29
D. Ganga run out 45
R. Morton lbw b Kallis 5
M. Samuels b Steyn 40
S. Chanderpaul c Kallis b Steyn 8
D. Bravo c Gibbs b Harris 10
D. Ramdin c Gibbs b Steyn 0
D. Sammy lbw b Harris 3
J. Taylor c Nel b Harris 22
D. Powell b Harris 6
F. Edwards not out 0
Extras b1, nb5, w1 7
Total 175
Fall of wkts 1-32, 2-57, 3-122, 4-123, 5-141, 6-141, 7-144, 8-144, 9-160
Bowling Steyn 17-3-67-3 (5nb, 1w)
Ntini 11-3-35-1
Nel 7-1-21-0
Kallis 7-1-16-1
Harris 15.4-5-35-4
South Africa 2nd innings
H. Gibbs lbw b Powell 0
G. Smith c Ganga b Edwards 11
H. Amla c Ramdin b Edwards 8
J. Kallis not out 16
A. Prince not out 10
Total for 3 wkts at lunch 45
Fall of wkts 1-4, 2-17, 3-20
Bowling Powell 6-2-17-1
Edwards 6-1-11-2
Taylor 3-0-15-0
Bravo 3-2-2-0