AFTER suffering a crushing innings and 114-run loss to England in the first Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground last week, West Indies got the perfect start to the second Test at Trent Bridge on July 18 when Alzarri Joseph removed opening batsman Zak Crawley (duck) with the third ball of the day and no runs on the board.
Eighty-eight overs later, though, the hosts put themselves in a strong position in the contest after being bowled out for a score of 416 in their first innings – scoring at a rapid 4.70 runs per over in the process.
After Crawley’s early dismissal, Ben Duckett (71 off 59 balls) went into attack as he put on a 105-run partnership for the second wicket with Ollie Pope, who was dropped twice en route to posting his sixth Test century. Duckett and Pope took England’s score to the 50-run mark inside the first five overs, with the former getting to his fifty off just 32 balls – the joint third-fastest fifty for England in Tests.
Ominously poised on 342 for five at one stage in the final session, the West Indies bowlers fought back to take the last five wickets for 74 runs as the day’s play concluded with the fall of last-man Shoaib Bashir.
Joseph led the West Indies attack with figures of three for 98, with fellow seamer Jayden Seales grabbing two for 90 – though both had economy rates of six runs per over or higher. Part-time spinner Kavem Hodge grabbed two for 44, with Kevin Sinclair, a late inclusion in the Windies lineup for the ill Gudakesh Motie, grabbing two for 73.
Sinclair said it spoke volumes for the bowling unit to dismiss the “world-class” England team for the second time in the series, but he acknowledged the West Indies let things slip.
“I don’t think we wanted them to get to 400. I think it was a little too many,” Sinclair told the media at the end of the day’s play.
“We struck early and we let loose with the pressure. That’s something we didn’t want...I think we did the best we could today despite putting down a few chances.”
The 26-year-old Pope cracked 121 off 167 balls with 15 fours and a solitary six before being dismissed by Joseph in the final session. However, with better catching by the visitors, he could have been back in the hut before crossing 50.
In the over before the lunch interval, Pope was on 46 when he was dropped after slashing to Alick Athanaze at gully. Just after the interval, Pope pushed his score to 54 before he was dropped by Jason Holder off Shamar Joseph’s bowling. England’s score was on 144 for three at the time, with Joe Root (14) having been dismissed moments before by Seales.
“We were guilty of putting down a few chances. Pope ended up getting off after being dropped. He played really well and stuck it out there and got a hundred,” Sinclair said.
Duckett and Pope aside, several other England batsmen got starts on what was described as a good batting surface, with both Harry Brook and Jamie Smith notching 36, and lower-order batsman Chris Woakes hitting 37. Skipper Ben Stokes (69 off 104 balls) also threatened to cut loose before he became H
