Stokes left feeling the heat by Holder
JUST as Ben Stokes seemed to again be defying all the odds and dragging England towards justifying the big decisions that have marked his first match as captain, West Indies came bursting back into the box seat in what has become a compelling first Test.
When England’s temporary leader, perhaps stung by seemingly making the wrong call at the toss and compounding it with a controversial selection, was adding 98 with Zak Crawley, English optimism was growing of an against-the-odds victory.
But, with Stokes on 46 and going through his expansive gears, the man who is still rated above him as the world’s best all-rounder in Jason Holder made a breakthrough that could prove the pivotal moment of cricket’s big return.
Holder leapt high in jubilation when, for the second time in the match, he snared his opposite number as Stokes tried to again come down the pitch and turn him to the leg-side but could only steer tamely to gully. Then the whole complexion of the fourth day dramatically changed.
Shannon Gabriel, only officially added to West Indies squad on the eve of the series after injury, and Alzarri Joseph led the West Indies charge as five England wickets came crashing down in the last hour.
It leaves England, at 284 for eight, just 170 ahead and needing Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Jimmy Anderson to eke out as many runs as possible this morning to give them a fighting chance on a dry pitch that should prove difficult for batting on the last day.
Crawley is certainly still confident England can take a lead in the series.
‘It should be tight if we bowl well tomorrow and hopefully get a few more runs,’ he said.
‘To get above a 200 lead would be very nice and give us a great chance of winning the game.
‘Even towards the end there you could see the ball doing quite a bit.
‘They bowled quite well but the pitch was offering a bit of up and down bounce and we’ve definitely got the bowlers to take 10 wickets on there.’
Crawley revealed that the pitch was getting harder to bat on, which would suit the home side today.
‘It’s definitely two-paced and with the new ball it started to bounce a bit more,’ he noted. ‘The old ball kept low more than bounced, but the new ball was starting to hit the gloves and there was a bit of nip there a couple of times.’
It promises to be a thrilling climax to the first game of this decimated season if England’s quick bowlers in Wood and Archer can find the uneven bounce and their spinner in Dom Bess can produce the turn that Stokes gambled on when he batted first.
Crawley yesterday seemed to be lifting England towards a position of superiority in the company of Stokes with his best performance yet in a fledgling international career that has seen him get better with each game he plays.
It looked certain Crawley’s first home Test would feature his maiden century when he reached 76 as West Indies attack began to toil in far less friendly bowling conditions than those handed to them by Stokes at the toss.
But, just after Stokes had fallen to Holder, Crawley was undone trying to turn Joseph to leg and instead offering a sharp return catch. The English collapse was on.
That should not matter when selectors who have come under fire for the surprise decision to leave Broad out here sit down to decide who has to make way when Root returns from his paternity leave after the birth of his daughter Isabella.
For if Crawley, at 22, is on an upward graph after making his debut ahead of schedule for England in New Zealand last winter, then Joe Denly has surely run out of chances to prove he has a long-term future in the top order.
Denly desperately needed a big score as England tried to recover from a 114-run first-innings deficit by giving their bowlers enough to work with on a last-day pitch today.
Yet, after Rory Burns had given his wicket away, cutting a Roston Chase long hop straight to point, and Dom Sibley had fallen in familiar fashion down the legside after reaching 50, came a similarly predictable demise for Denly.
He lobbed the innocuous off-spin of Chase gently to the leg-side for 29 off 70 balls.
Another player who owes much to the faith placed in him at Test level by national selector Ed Smith in Jos Buttler could still have taken this Test away from West Indies with one of his dynamic counterattacking bursts after the quick fall of Stokes and Crawley.
But, even though he was reprieved in one of the few bad decisions that initially went in West Indies favour when an lbw decision against Holder given by Richard Illingworth was found by technology to be missing the stumps, Buttler was immediately bowled by Joseph.
So England must hope there will be another twist today when West Indies face what will still be a tricky chase.
Otherwise Holder and his emerging side will have taken a huge step towards their first Test series win in England since 1988.