SWEARING STOKES IN BAN FEAR
Lucky skipper holds the key to repeating Houdini heroics of 81
BEN STOKES is one misdemeanour away from a ban after receiving a demerit point for swearing in the second Test against West Indies at Headingley. The England all-rounder cursed to himself after being edged for four and was caught on the stump mic. Stokes now has three points and a tally of four triggers a ban for either one Test or two limited-overs games. England closed day three on 171 for three, a lead of two runs.
Joe Root somehow held on by his fingertips yesterday to keep england in with an enticing chance of denying West Indies one of the great comeback victories on another gripping day of Headingley test cricket.
the england captain was dropped and then survived what looked like a plumb lbw shout as West Indies continued their astonishing transformation since edgbaston. But he is still there and with him rest his side’s hopes.
At the end of a compelling third day of the second Investec test Root was unbeaten on 45 and england had edged two runs in front of West Indies with seven wickets in hand to create the prospect of another Headingley classic.
Perhaps those 3,500 Yorkshire folk who bought tickets for today in advance of the test knew something after all because this has been a most unexpectedly tight contest after a remarkably onesided test only last week.
Against all the odds, West Indies, an embarrassment at edgbaston, have made most of the running and threaten to again expose the maddening inconsistency Root hoped england had left behind in winning their last three tests.
Instead he will have to be at the forefront of england’s attempts to get at least 200 ahead today and try to prey on West Indies’ vulnerability in what could well be another of the tight finishes that have become a Leeds speciality.
West Indies could already have been close to what would be one of their most satisfying and unlikely of all triumphs had Kyle Hope not dropped Root in the gully off Kemar Roach when he had made 10. And Root, who did not get off the mark until his 21st ball, was given out on 35 by umpire S Ravi only to see his immediate review rewarded when technology surprisingly decreed that Jason Holder’s ball would have missed leg stump.
How crucial those pieces of good fortune could be for england as they attempt to recover from a first-innings deficit of 169 to clinch this series and retain the Wisden trophy with the final test at Lord’s still to come.
As it was england, there were still concerns over the top order, not least at No 3, where tom Westley has gone from a highly promising debut against South Africa at the oval to the last chance saloon in only four tests.
Westley had a huge stroke of luck after england tried to recover from the early loss of Alastair Cook when West Indies somehow mucked up a run out chance, with the essex man stranded, having given up on making his ground. Far from taking advantage, Westley aimed a huge drive to a wide ball from Holder just two runs later and succeeded merely in edging to Shane Dowrich. He will have the last test to try to prove he should go to Australia.
At least there was much better from Mark Stoneman, who recovered from having the little finger of his left hand dislocated by a Holder delivery to make his first test half-century.
It took a beauty from Shannon Gabriel to cut short Stoneman’s stay but there was controversy over his dismissal too when replays showed that Gabriel was perilously close to overstepping.
But, with regulations stating that any benefit of the doubt should go to the bowler, tV umpire Marais erasmus was correct in judging that Gabriel, a persistent no-ball offender, should be allowed to get his man this time.
the day could not have started any better for england when Jimmy Anderson took the wickets of Shai Hope and Dowrich with the first two deliveries to claim a five-wicket haul and leave himself three short of 500 in tests.
england would have been rampant and West Indies lead would surely have been below three figures had Moeen Ali held an absolute dolly at mid- on offered by Jermaine Blackwood to Stuart Broad’s second ball of the day.
At that stage West Indies were only 75 ahead but how Blackwood and Holder took advantage with a partnership that doubled the lead and took their side to their first score of 400-plus in three years.
Moeen took a much tougher chance over his shoulder to end a valuable contribution of 43 from the West Indies captain but the damage was compounded when Stoneman dropped Gabriel at short leg before he had scored.
that lapse cost england another 21 runs from the final West Indies pair and the scale of the home side’s task was emphasised by the sober thought that they had recovered from such a deficit and won a test on only four occasions.
Whatever happens now, this test has been a triumph in particular for Holder, who led by example yesterday with both bat and ball and has played a huge role in West Indies’ dramatic improvement since the horrors of edgbaston.
Holder, a dignified man with one of the toughest jobs in world sport, said before this test that he had told his players to look in the mirror, but he clearly did some soul- searching himself before coming up with a fine all-round performance.
It may be a little early to mention 1981 and england’s greatest of all unlikely victories here, even with Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis on the ground yesterday.
But what is not in doubt is that we are facing a thrilling last two days.
And after edgbaston that simply did not look possible.