Crawley targets lead of 200 to clinch Test thriller

ZAK CRAWLEY insisted last night that England are relishing a nerve-jangling finish to match last summer’s Headingley Ashes thriller on the final day of the First Test against West Indies.

Crawley, only playing in Southampton because of captain Joe Root’s paternity leave, hit 76, his highest score in Test cricket, to help put England in a commanding position on the fourth day. But a collapse of five for 30 in the final session left the hosts on 284 for eight overnight and leading by just 170 as the contest swung back in the balance.

England were involved in a thrilling encounter against Australia in Leeds last summer, when one of the great Test centuries from Ben Stokes, captaining in Root’s absence here, saw them fashion an extraordinarily tense one-wicket win.

Crawley believes this group of players will embrace the pressure if this match also goes down to the wire. ‘Absolutely, that’s why we play the game,’ he said.

‘Tight finishes are the best games to win. Everyone in the dressing room is massively up for it to win the game tomorrow.

‘We do enough practising on our fielding to try and take those opportunities so everyone is looking forward to that pressure tomorrow to try and win the game. It should be tight if we bowl well tomorrow and hopefully get a few more runs. If we can get above a 200-run lead that would be very nice and give us a great chance of winning the game.’

West Indies coach Phil Simmons says his team are confident they will not buckle in pursuit what would rank as one of their finest Test wins away from home in recent memory.

‘Whatever is put in front of us, we have a day to bat,’ he said. ‘The confidence from the way we batted in the first innings — the attitude — is going to be a huge plus, whether the target’s 170 or 190. So I have confidence.’