England battle hard on second day but flaws in attack come home to roost
Andrew Miller25-Mar-2022West Indies 232 for 8 (da Silva 54*, Roach 25*) lead England 204 (Mahmood 49, Leach 41*, Seales 3-40) by 28 runsSome 13,000km lie between Lahore and St George’s, and a similar distance would appear to lie between the teams that have been taking part in their respective Test-series deciders. If Pat Cummins’ Australians have just demonstrated, in their hard-fought series victory over Pakistan, that a side blessed with great bowlers can transcend any conditions, then England and West Indies would appear to be hostages to a less palatable truth.On the face of it, the decisive third Test in Grenada could scarcely be more intricately poised. By the close of the second day’s play, West Indies’ lower order had chiselled out a precious lead of 28, and every extra run looks set to be vital on a two-paced surface that promises awkward times ahead in even the most nominal of fourth-innings chases.And yet, the evidence of the first two innings has been revealing. Two flawed teams, battling their own insecurities with bat and ball alike, with each facet of their play winning out at alternate moments, with the implacable obstinacy of a pushmepullyou.On the first day, England collapsed in seaming conditions to 114 for 9, before their tenth-wicket pair cashed in on the softer old ball to ease to a serene 90-run stand. And on the second, West Indies staged a near-replica of their own – a collapse of seven for 78, either side of lunch, as Chris Woakes dragged his length back and with it, fleetingly, his reputation in overseas conditions, then a late-evening revival with Joshua Da Silva’s diligent 54 not out to the fore, as West Indies’ eighth and ninth wickets racked up 104 series-tilting runs.And by the close, England were huffing and puffing as if they were back in Antigua or Barbados – including with the second new ball, which came and went in six anodyne overs with as little malice as the first. And in the contest’s final analysis, the combined analysis of 72 for 0 that West Indies have been able to pick off while those balls have been at their hardest may yet prove to be pivotal. For whatever else England may have achieved in the name of their red-ball reset, finding an answer to their toothlessness up top is not one of them.That said, the most successful of England’s bowlers in the innings to date is that man Woakes, although his current analysis of 20-6-48-3 – already among his best in 20 overseas Tests – tells only a fraction of his story. Prior to this series, West Indies’ openers, Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell hadn’t made a half-century stand on home soil since England’s last visit to the Caribbean in 2019 – and they’ve never yet made a century stand in 35 attempts, the most by a top-order pair in Test history.They have, however, now racked up three fifty stands in as many Tests this series, including this latest effort – a disarmingly serene alliance of 50 that, in following directly on from Jack Leach’s and Saqib Mahmood’s casual progress on the first evening, appeared to confirm that the spice of the first morning had long since been and gone.Chris Woakes had Jason Holder caught for a duck•Getty Images
But just as had been the case with their guileless first innings in Antigua, Woakes and Craig Overton were culpable in floating the ball up too full and wide for a cracked surface that demanded the ball be driven into the deck to extract the uneven bounce, and both men were all too easily thwarted as England’s first-innings 204 was made to look grossly inadequate.But then Ben Stokes, inevitably, showed the way with a back-of-a-length shin-botherer to dislodge Brathwaite for his lowest score of the series, and one over later, Campbell got in a tangle to a fearsome visor-smasher from Overton. He carried on after a mandatory concussion test, but the success of that length was an indication of the threat that awaited if England were willing to test the facilities.Sure enough, Mahmood was the next to drag his own length back to pin Shamarh Brooks in front of leg stump, and then, six balls later and in the penultimate over of the session, Overton’s aggression into Campbell’s body paid dividends, as he scuffed an attempted pull down the leg side, and was sent on his way after a review.It was a sign of lengths to come, and straight after lunch, it was Woakes’ turn to drag it back, in more ways than one. Just when it seemed that his unquestioned good-eggery was finally going to run out of caveats in overseas conditions, he came hurtling in for his second spell with spirit and threat renewed.His first breakthrough came via a startling change-up in pace, as he fired in a cross-seam bouncer to the obdurate Nkrumah Bonner, who flapped with his gloves as the ball skidded through lower than anticipated, and Ben Foakes scooped the deflection to confirm West Indies’ panic at 82 for 4.Three balls later, and it was all hands to the pump for a floundering batting line-up. Woakes fired in another short ball to the imposing Jason Holder, whose response was his third unworthy shot in as many innings – a spiralling top-edged pull to Jonny Bairstow at square leg, and in the space of a single over, Woakes had doubled his series wickets tally, and halved his average, from 88.50 and climbing to the mid-40s.Suddenly his tail was up and his luck had turned. Two overs later, Jermaine Blackwood – who had already survived a rare drop on 14 by Foakes off Mahmood – hacked a flashy cut past the diving Overton at gully for four, only to fall to his very next ball, as Woakes fired in the fuller length, and extracted an umpire’s call lbw with the batter pinned in front of leg stump.But Kyle Mayers, in the earliest sign that England’s threat was transient, took it upon himself to inject some impetus into a stalled innings. First he bludgeoned Woakes out of the attack with a pre-meditated pull for six over midwicket, then he twice climbed into Overton with unconventional hacks in front of square for boundaries before deflecting Jack Leach to third man after his belated introduction for the 43rd over.Related
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Once again, it was Stokes – discomforted, not for the first time, by his long-standing knee injury – who rejoined the attack to end Mayers’ threatening stay on 28. There was perhaps a hint of reverse swing at play as he bent a full ball into middle stump, and Mahmood at mid-on swallowed a comfortable chip.But from 128 for 7, Da Silva and Alzarri Joseph guided their side to tea before setting themselves to chip off the remaining deficit of 70. At first Joseph was the more proactive of the partners, including another mashed six off Woakes, whose short ball was suddenly lacking its previous zip – and as England’s desperation for a breakthrough became more apparent, so too did their use of their remaining reviews, all of them burned in hope rather than expectation.In the end, it was pilot error that downed Joseph to end a key stand of 49, as he charged once more at Overton – a forgiveable tactic with the new ball looming – and under-edged to the tumbling Foakes for 28. But Roach, West Indies’ senior pro, was in no mood to give his innings away so tamely. He held his own to the close as Da Silva brought up a gutsy fifty from 143 balls in the fading light. It was the first of the match, and it’s not done yet.