After just two days England are on the verge of claiming a convincing victory in the opening Test of the summer, having reduced West Indies to 79 for six in their second innings, still 171 behind.
England were dismissed just before tea for 371, having amassed a lead of precisely 250, and the tourists’ hopes of a positive response were stymied by a classic opening spell from the retiring Jimmy Anderson, whose first five overs brought just two runs and the wicket of the West Indies captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, who lost his middle stump to one that seamed in. Kirk McKenzie then fell without scoring to his ninth ball, and Ben Stokes’ third – England’s captain becoming in the process the third man, after Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis, to take 200 Test wickets and score 6000 runs.
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After Jason Holder was caught by Ollie Pope at short leg at the end of the day for 20, no West Indies batter has so far managed to score as many as 30. There may have been little here for their supporters to celebrate – and a hamstring injury to Shamar Joseph added to their woes – but they were given a few straws to clutch across the second day: a beautiful delivery from Gudakesh Motie to dismiss Stokes; a wonderful, and wonderfully-celebrated, long-distance direct-hit from the debutant Mikyle Louis to run out Shoaib Bashir; the three classy boundaries with which Alick Athenaze scored his first 12 runs.
But there has so far been a gulf between the two sides’ achievements with the bat. The day started with both Joe Root and Harry Brook, 15 and 25 respectively overnight, completing half-centuries – a mark reached by four of England’s top five. Brook eventually skied a catch to the wicketkeeper, Joshua Da Silva, off Alzarri Joseph for 50 while Root scored 68 before he too was bowled by Motie.
But after Gus Atkinson’s remarkable seven-wicket haul on Wednesday it was England’s other debutant, Surrey’s Jamie Smith, who was the day’s outstanding batter. Smith took some time to play himself in – he took 98 balls to reach his own half-century – but there was a marked acceleration once Motie had bewitched Stokes to leave him batting with the tail and he hit two sixes, one flying over the Tavern Stand and out of the ground, before he was caught in the deep attempting a third.