LONDON, CMC – Spineless batting left West Indies on the brink of defeat against hosts England in the first Test on Thursday. The wicket of former captain Jason Holder to the final ball on the second day meant the Caribbean side slumped to 79 for six in their second innings at the close of the Test at Lord’s, still trailing by 171.
It undermined the hard work of the bowlers led by pacer Jayden Seales, who defied half-centuries from debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Smith, former England captain Joe Root, and Harry Brook to take four for 77 from 20 overs in the home team’s first innings total of 371.
Only Alick Athanaze and Holder reached 20, and their stand of 24 for the sixth wicket enabled the visitors to avoid the embarrassment of a two-day defeat after retiring Jimmy Anderson and fellow pacers, captain Ben Stokes, and debutant Gus Atkinson bagged two wickets each.
Three wickets – two to left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie – enabled West Indies to restrict England to 293 for six at lunch after they started the day on 189 for three.
Alzarri Joseph made the breakthrough for West Indies in the first hour when he got Brook caught behind for precisely 50 – the 12th in 13 Tests for the batsman – after getting into trouble hooking at a short ball.
Motie bowled Stokes for four with a delivery that spun sharply and struck the middle stump of the England captain before Root reached his half-century from 83 balls untroubled.
But Motie struck another critical blow for the Caribbean side in the penultimate over before the interval when he also bowled Root for 68.
West Indies met resistance after lunch when Chris Woakes came together with Smith for over an hour, and they put on 52 for the seventh wicket to push the England total past 300.
Seales got Woakes caught at deep mid-wicket for 23, and the tail-end of the England batting hung around long enough to enable Smith, 23, to reach his maiden Test half-century on debut, hitting eight fours and two sixes in a late counter-offensive.
Holder got Test newcomer Gus Atkinson caught behind for a first-ball duck, a direct hit at the bowler’s end from Test debutant Mikyle Louis accounted for Shoaib Bashir run out for a duck, and Seales brought Smith’s fun to an end when he got him caught at deep mid-wicket.
It meant that Anderson did not face a ball in what may be his final Test innings after receiving a warm ovation from the crowd when he walked out to bat.
West Indies’ hopes for a bright start to their second innings were ruined when the 41-year-old pacer bowled their captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, for four.
The Caribbean side was 17 for two when Stokes trapped Kirk McKenzie lbw for naught and became only the third player to take 200 wickets and score 6,000 runs in Tests after iconic former West Indies all-rounder Garfield Sobers and former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
Stokes also got Louis caught behind for 14 with the first delivery after the ball was changed because it had become out of shape. Atkinson continued his memorable debut when he bowled Hodge for four – and the visitors wobbled to 37 for four.
After he defied the England attack for close to an hour-and-a-half, Athanaze was caught behind for 22 to become the 703rd Test wicket for Anderson before Atkinson got Holder caught at short leg to complete a miserable day for West Indies.
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