England set the night on fire
West Indies collapse to humiliating innings loss Broad usurps Botham to go second on all-time list
England wrapped up the first pink-ball Test in England by defeating the West Indies by an innings and 209 runs in less than three days and nights.
The capitulation – which appeared to have very little to do with the pink ball – was ignominious even by West Indies’ recent standards as they were dismissed for 168 and 137, losing 19 wickets in a single day. Only three times has a country lost 20 wickets in a day.
Stuart Broad led the second-innings rout of West Indies by taking three wickets, the third of which lifted him ahead of Sir Ian Botham – who took 383 Test wickets – into second place in England’s all-time list of wicket-takers.
Broad raised the pink ball in the direction of Ottis Gibson, England’s bowling coach, who is due to leave to become South Africa’s coach.
“Ottis has been a huge influence on me,” Broad said. “I opened the bowling with him at Leicestershire and he knows my action better than I do. He has been a huge help to me along the way and that was for him.”
Botham waved to Broad from the Sky commentary box and tweeted: “Many congratulations ‘Broady’ great effort really pleased for you !!!! Better have a good glass or two of the finest !!!! ” Broad said: “Not in our wildest dreams did we think we would get 19 wickets in the day to win a Test match. It was lovely to get that three-wicket spell for the team. It got us closer to winning the Test match, but for my confidence, getting wickets in little clumps is what I love doing.”
The only England bowler now ahead of Broad is his opening partner James Anderson who finished the game with 492 wickets, only eight short of becoming the first England bowler to reach 500 Test wickets.
Joe Root, England’s captain, said: “It was a fantastic team effort from start to finish. We were relentless in the areas we bowled, consistently got the ball to move sideways, and when you’ve got the class that we have, especially with the new ball, you always know they are going to create opportunities. All three record-breakers in our team [Anderson, Broad and Alastair Cook, who was man of the match with his 243], are always striving to improve.
“Today is just a great recognition of all the work he [Broad] has done in an England jersey and that mentality that he has – to want to take his game forward even though he has accomplished so much – is so valuable to this team.”
The second Test starts at Headingley on Friday, with England last night naming the same 13-man squad picked for this one.
Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, admitted: “I think we were totally outplayed and we didn’t show enough fight. We got beaten in three days and just weren’t up to scratch.”
Not since 1933 have West Indies lost as many wickets in one day as they did against England yesterday to surrender the first Investec Test by a mammoth innings and 209 runs.
There have been many lows in West Indies cricket since the legends all retired, but losing 19 wickets for 261 runs in 76.4 overs of one day charted new territory. The fear will be that with two more Tests to play over the next three weeks things could become even worse with the gulf between these two sides as wide as it ever was in reverse during the Blackwashes of the 1980s. The new definition of optimism is anyone who has bought a ticket for the fourth day of either final two Tests.
Stuart Broad will not care. He took five wickets yesterday across both West Indies innings to move beyond Sir Ian Botham, the man he said inspired him to play cricket, into second position on England’s all time wicket takers list.
Broad and James Anderson led the attack with nine wickets between them yesterday as West Indies were simply outplayed by two brilliant bowlers.
Jermaine Blackwood offered the only defiance with an unbeaten 79 in the first innings but he could not do it alone. Having started the day promising to make England work hard for their reward on 44 for one West Indies’ first innings collapsed to dust.
Bowled out in the best batting conditions of the day, it left them with a desperate challenge as the lights took over in the evening and the pink ball became harder to see. Following on 346 runs behind on a pitch offering variable bounce, it was only a matter of time and West Indies were bowled out in their second innings within 46 overs for 137. A telling statistic was that Alastair Cook batted for 583 minutes in England’s first innings; West Indies managed 392 across two innings.
Broad finished with three for 34 in the second innings, just reward for his day’s work. He bowled quicker than he did on Friday evening and deserved more than his two tail-end wickets in the first innings. He found a better length and more consistency and when he dismissed West Indies captain Jason Holder first ball in the second innings, he went level with Botham on 383 wickets and was also on a hat-trick. The fairytale did not happen but two overs later he bowled Shane Dowrich to go into second place behind Anderson.
England’s batting rests on the shoulders of Joe Root and Cook and the quick bowling is still dominated by An- derson and Broad. Toby Roland-Jones struggled at times and Stokes was poor in the West Indies first innings but improved dramatically as they day wore on strangling the batsmen for runs.
Anderson was brilliant in the first session, starting the decline by taking two for six in four overs and with Kieran Powell running himself out too West Indies were sinking fast.
Shane Dowrich was lbw missing a straight ball from Roland-Jones and Holder chased shadows against Moeen Ali before finally edging him behind, with Jonny Bairstow persuading Root to successfully review and overturn the not-out call.
West Indies lasted until lunch thanks to Blackwood’s defiant counter-attack, which included hitting Moeen down the ground for six but after the break it took England only six overs to take the final two wickets. Root enforced the follow-on for the first time as England captain and it did not take long for Anderson to chip away at the second innings, with Powell caught at first slip in the fifth over.
Kraigg Brathwaite hung around for 76 balls but his dismissal on the stroke of tea really brought home the possibility of a three-day finish. He moved way over to the off side but missed his flick to leg and the England review brought another wicket for Moeen and left West Indies 76 for four.
Blackwood could not repeat the first-innings performance and was out stumped charging Moeen, leaving the lower order at the mercy of Broad and
Anderson. Roston Chase, the last specialist batsman, was leg-before, barely moving his feet to Broad who was suddenly on one of his rolls.
Holder was caught at first slip low down by Cook and Dowrich had his off stump splattered. Broad held the match ball up to the crowd to celebrate moving past his hero Botham. Kemar Roach was late on a fuller ball from Anderson to be bowled for the second time in the day and Roland-Jones pinched the final wicket from Anderson and Broad.
England now have the luxury of two days off before the second Test at Headingley starts on Friday. They have the option of resting Stokes in this series with an Ashes winter looming and Chris Woakes ready to play again. But Stokes, like Anderson and Broad, will
Dominant: James Anderson runs out West Indies’ Kieran Powell as the hosts’ bowlers have a field day in England’s first floodlit Test at Edgbaston
be desperate to take easy pickings against West Indies.
For West Indies it is impossible to see where they go from here. They can try to rebuild around Blackwood’s first innings and Shannon Gabriel will add to their bowling if he regains fitness, but the batting is the big problem.
The cavalry will arrive for the oneday series. Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels will be named in the one-day squad after an amnesty was brokered between the board and their players which removes the stipulation they have to play all domestic cricket to be considered for the West Indies team.
Samuels will be able to revive his rivalry with Stokes and the one-day series promises to offer spice the Tests are badly lacking.