GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): South Africa were fighting for survival on Sunday as the intriguing first Test against the West Indies was poised for a last day epic showdown. Forced to follow on 355 runs behind on the penultimate day, the visitors reached 85 for two in their second when bad light stopped play three overs early. They had earlier been dismissed for a modest first innings total of 188. South Africa could have been in an even worse situation at stumps had West Indies accepted two chances to remove left-hander Jacques Rudolph in the final hour. On two, Devon Smith dropped him at slip off Narsingh Deonarine, and on 14, part-time left-arm spin bowler Ryan Hinds dropped a return chance. After making West Indies toil unsuccessfully in the equatorial heat between lunch and tea, South Africa lost opening batsmen AB de Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith in the final period to fast bowlers Reon King and Pedro Collins. Hardly a ball beat the bats of Smith and de Villiers, as they batted doggedly to stonewall the opposition and gather 40 runs from 31 overs in the afternoon period. However, King made the breakthrough after tea, when de Villiers was bowled for 20, the batsman driving off the backfoot, dragging a wide delivery into his stumps. For close to an hour, Smith and Rudolph continued to defy the West Indies attack, but Collins bowled the South African captain with an in-swinging yorker in the third over of his final spell of the day to set the visitors back. Before lunch, South Africa had continued from their overnight total of 130 for six in their first innings and were dismissed about 20 minutes prior to the interval. Mark Boucher hit 41 to be joint top-scorer along with de Villiers, but he could not rally the lower order enough to get South Africa to the follow-on target of 343. All three West Indies fast bowlers - Pedro Collins, Reon King and Daren Powell - ended with three wickets. Boucher and Nicky Boje spent the first hour of the morning keeping the West Indies attack at bay, but King broke through in the fourth over of his spell. Boje, playing defensively forward, was comprehensively beaten and bowled between bat and pad for 34. A few overs later, Powell had Makhaya Ntini lbw for eight playing across a well pitched delivery, before Collins removed Boucher to a catch to first slip to leave South Africa 170 for nine. The innings came to a conclusion when Charl Langeveldt was caught at cover off part-time off-spin bowler Narsingh Deonarine, who collected his first Test wicket in his debut Test. West Indies are fielding a severely depleted side after the West Indies Cricket Board ruled seven players, including skipper Brian Lara, ineligible for selection because of personal endorsement contracts with former sponsor Cable et Wireless which they believe are contrary to the team sponsorship of telecoms rival, Digicel. Scoreboard at the close on the fourth day of the first Test between West Indies and South Africa on Sunday: West Indies 1st Innings (543 for five declared. W.Hinds 213, S.Chanderpaul 203 not out) South Africa 1st Innings (overnight 130 for six) G.Smith c Browne b Collins 2 A.de Villiers c Browne b King 41 J.Rudolph c R. Hinds b Powell 0 J.Kallis b Powell 0 H.Gibbs lbw b Collins 5 M.Boucher c Chanderpaul b Collins 41 A.Hall c Collins b King 2 N.Boje b King 34 M.Ntini lbw b Powell 8 C.Langeveldt c R. Hinds b Deonarine 10 A.Nel not out 6 Extras (lb6, w2, nb31) 39 Total (all out) 188 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-16, 3-16, 4-30, 5-75, 6-95, 7-158, 8-169, 9-172. Bowling: Collins 18-5-39-3 (nb13); Powell 18-2-61-3 (nb6, w2); King 16-2-48-3 (nb6); R. Hinds 13-5-29-0; Deonarine 1.5-0-5-1. South Africa 2nd Innings (following on) A. de Villiers b King 20 G. Smith b Collins 34 J. Rudolph not out 19 J. Kallis not out 1 Extras (b5, lb1, nb5) 11 Total (2 wkts) 85 Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-68. Bowling: Collins 9-6-12-1 (nb1); Powell 12-7-15-0; King 8-0-18-1 (nb4); W. Hinds 8-4-4-0; R. Hinds 13-6-13-0; Deonarine 12-5-17-0; Chanderpaul 1-1-0-0 Position: South Africa trail West Indies by 270 runs with eight second innings wickets standing. Umpires: D. Shepherd (ENG) and Aleem Dar (PAK) TV Replays: E. Nicholls Match Referee: J. Crowe (NZL) Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com