The enduring quality of Courtney Walsh carried the West Indies to parity at the end of the second day of the first Test against South Africa at the Wanderers. Moreover, it made him his country's leading wicket-taker in Test history.

From 19.4 overs in three spells, the 36-year-old finished with four for 48 to leave South Africa on 217 for six, 44 runs in arrears. His second wicket - Jacques Kallis, caught brilliantly at second slip by Stuart Williams - took him past Malcolm Marshall's tally of 376 wickets, and he ended the day only four behind Ian Botham in the all-time list that is headed by Kapil Dev (434) from Sir Richard Hadlee (431).

Without Walsh the tourists would have been in a sorry state, having begun the day at 249 for seven and folded within half an hour for 261.

Walsh then ripped through Adam Bacher's defences with a snorter in the fourth over. At the other end Curtly Ambrose was steady when fire and brimstone were needed and Nixon McLean was thumped to the boundary whenever he dropped short, which was frequently.

Lunch was taken at 53 for one with Kallis and Gary Kirsten looking ominous, but Walsh's second wicket not only broke Marshall's record, it went a long way to breaking South Africa's resistance. Kallis had made a studied 53 from 112 balls with eight fours and added 92 with Kirsten.

From there it was all downhill. Daryll Cullinan was caught down the leg side off the face of the bat after hitting two pedigree boundaries, Kirsten, who had held the innings together without ever suggesting permanence, then dragged a ball from McLean on to his off stump looking for his familiar glide behind point. He faced 144 balls in 213 minutes and squeezed out half a dozen boundaries.

McLean had Jonty Rhodes lbw for 17 to reduce South Africa to 185 for five, and after a 30-minute break for bad light Walsh delivered the coup de grace by trimming Shaun Pollock's off bail.

The home captain Hansie Cronje is still there on 39 and is fortunate to have Mark Boucher with him and Pat Symcox to come.

Heath Streak became Zimbabwe's first bowler to 100 Test wickets yesterday, but Pakistan reached 272 for six on the first day of the first Test before fading light stopped play in Peshawar with four overs remaining.

Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and five others have been summoned by a judicial commission probing match-fixing allegations in Pakistani cricket.