ENGLAND GROUND DOWN
FRUSTRATING DAY FOR BOWLERS AS CHANCES GO DOWN, WHILE BATSMAN DIG IN FOR GOOD LEAD
Stuart Broad led a spirited fightback from England’s bowlers in Antigua but missed chances and belligerent batting from the West Indies left the tourists battling to save both the second Test and the series.
Broad was the central figure in the drama of the second day, taking three wickets and seeing Jos Buttler drop a pair of simple catches in the slips, but all the while the hosts were building a position that left them 85 ahead on 272 for six at stumps.
The 32-year-old seamer bowled brilliantly at times, consistently threatening while also completing 11 maidens in his 21 overs.
On another occasion he might have chiselled England a stronger foothold in the game but a total of four dropped catches - Keaton Jennings and Rory Burns shelling much harder ones than Buttler - and two dismissals rightly overturned on DRS saw their first-innings 187 comfortably cleared.
The Caribbean batsmen deserved credit too, Kraigg Brathwaite (49) and Darren Bravo (33no) each lasting over 150 balls in testing conditions.
England were hoping for a big push this morning but they managed a solitary wicket at a cost of 96 runs.
Broad might have struck in the very first over, Jennings throwing himself forward at square-leg but failing to cling to Brathwaite’s flick.
Broad thought he had Campbell next over only for replays to prove the batsman had been caught off his arm rather than his bat. Frustration turned to despair when a booming edge from Campbell, on 27, sailed to third slip and Buttler spilled.
Broad’s stint improbably ended without joy.
Stokes denied Campbell a half-century, Buttler gathering safely at second slip, ending an English wicket drought lasting 101 overs.
The afternoon was kinder, with four wickets falling for 86. Moeen Ali got the ball rolling, the patient Brathwaite out bat-pad to Jennings, before Broad belatedly got his rewards in a strong second spell.
Shai Hope was set up perfectly to feather behind, Broad closing in on the edge with precision. Having waited 144 days for a Test wicket, Broad grabbed another three balls later.
Roston Chase stood no chance, castled by a shin-high shooter.
The Windies were one run shy of drawing level with England when they lost their fifth wicket, Shimron Hetmyer well caught by James Anderson at long-off. Hetmyer had already been reprieved off Anderson’s bowling, Burns diving athletically to get two hands to a difficult chance only for it to wriggle free.
Bravo and Shane Dowrich followed with a 50 stand either side of tea but, true to form, it was far from simple. Buttler caused Broad further anguish when Bravo, on 20, squeezed a full ball into the cordon and the vice-captain juggled it to the floor.
Dowrich, having already reversed an Anderson lbw, nicked a lifter from Broad with the lead at 49 and Buttler held it to avoid a hat-trick of drops.
Bravo and Jason Holder finally wore England’s patience thin in a 36-run stand occupying 115 deliveries.