Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Windies take charge of opening Test match
ENGLAND captain Ben Stokes rallied his side with four wickets on day three of the first #raisethebat Test – but the West Indies were still able to leave the field with an enviable 99-run lead.
The tourists established a first-innings gap of 114 as they produced a disciplined total of 318 at the Ageas Bowl, but their advantage might easily have been even larger had Stokes not summoned four for 49, his best figures in two years.
He shouldered the burden after Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, selected ahead of Stuart Broad for their superior pace, turned in a combined return of one for 135, despite the latter’s fierce speed.
Stokes, who appeared to be struggling with soreness as he worked through his decisive final spell, accounted for topscorers Kraigg Brathwaite (65) and Shane Dowrich (61) as well as his fellow all-rounder and rival skipper Jason Holder.
While he was unable to match the latter’s previous efforts with a five-wicket haul, his dismissal of Alzarri Joseph did bring his Test tally to 150.
James Anderson was also in credit with three for 62, while Somerset spinner Dom Bess chimed in as well with two wickets. Their efforts still left the hosts in a hole at change over, with openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley making 15 for nought in a trying 40 minutes before stumps.
The West Indies began on 57 for one and, in the best overhead batting conditions yet, got the better of the first session by adding 102 for two wickets.
Brathwaite progressed more comfortably than his partners, converting his overnight 20 into both the first fifty of the match and his own first since 2018, but his hopes of towards three figures ended at Stokes’ hand, rapped high on the knee roll but deep enough in his crease for the umpire Richard Kettleborough to raise the finger.
Dowrich was another to pass the half-century mark, but Stokes kept pounding in, strangling the wicketkeeper down the leg-side. But the Windies had taken command.