After an eventful summer of Twenty20 cricket, England take on West Indies for a three-match Test series.
Day One saw Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett engage in some high-scoring bowling action against Windies bowlers; Kraigg Brathwaite and Kavem Hodge responded with half centuries to offer some resistance.
Alick Athanaze, Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes also made an impressionful performance.
England vs West Indies 1st Test
Lord’s will play host to the inaugural Test match of English summer this season and its significance cannot be understated for either side. England are looking to rebound after suffering an embarrassing T20 loss while West Indies hope for their first triumph since 1988 at Lord’s.
This match will mark James Anderson’s final red-ball innings as England’s record wicket-taker with 700 wickets across 188 matches under his belt he hopes to bow out on an emotional note.
England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bowl first on day one under overcast conditions, dismissing West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis after they made an encouraging start with Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis making useful starts but being overpowered by England bowlers led to two wickets being claimed each by Gus Atkinson and Kuldeep Yadav’s new-ball pair of Gus Atkinson and Kuldeep Yadav who took two wickets each off England bowlers before eventually defeat by their counterparts from West Indies batsmen to give their side victory on day 1.
Atkinson made his national team debut and made an immediate impact by taking his first wicket on his second delivery, hitting Brathwaite and forcing an edge onto debutant wicketkeeper Jamie Smith who plays with Surrey alongside Atkinson for 22 runs – this wicket was the last one taken and eventually saw them all run out for just 121.
Atkinson continued his impressive run, taking seven wickets with an outstanding hat-trick off the fourth ball of the final over that saw Brathwaite, Zachary McCaskie, and Kirk McKenzie dismissed – the first time it had happened since Jimmy Matthews achieved it against Australia in 1924.
England’s batsmen produced some outstanding performances. Zak Crawley (76) and Ollie Pope (75) both scored half centuries to put England in an advantageous position, but captain Joe Root and Harry Brook did not deliver as expected.
England vs West Indies 2nd Test
England’s patience paid off in the second Test against West Indies as they achieved an historic innings and 385-run win at Trent Bridge courtesy of Joe Root and Harry Brook scoring centuries to set an unassailable 2-0 advantage in the three-match series. Mark Wood also made his mark, with an outstanding spell featuring one particularly memorable bouncer to dismiss Kevin Sinclair from his impressive spell.
West Indies knew they were in for an uphill struggle when they resumed on a damp pitch but found hope in Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge’s superb stand. Unfortunately, however, Chris Woakes’ dismissal of Mikyle Louis off Shoaib Bashir’s bowling caused their resistance to collapse as Chris Woakes hit out with one from Shoaib Bashir to spark another collapse, dismantling any chance that Alick and Kavem Hodge may have offered them.
Joe Root was England’s go-to man during their run to their 32nd Test century at lunch, providing them with a solid platform at which to take on Australia. Unfortunately, Jason Holder took advantage of Joe Root’s slip up by striking in the afternoon session and Alzarri Joseph run-out left their hosts reeling.
England relied on their pair of spinners as both collected wickets to keep the scoreboard moving along. James Anderson continued his impressive spell by picking up two scalps to move within one wicket of Shane Warne in terms of Test wickets taken by English spinners; Gus Atkinson also contributed by taking two wickets – Josh Da Silva was dismissed via leg before wicket while Alzarri Joseph castled a delivery.
West Indies were always going to face an uphill task when chasing Australia on this surface, following their crushing innings defeat at Lord’s. Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis displayed they have the temperament for long innings on such surfaces while Alick Athanaze made a valiant effort but just missed his maiden Test century by two runs. Unfortunately their lack of field discipline ultimately doomed them as they slumped to an innings defeat on 425; an enormous loss by 207 runs after showing promise during their first Test performance against Lord’s. Edgbaston awaits for the final installment of this series.
England vs West Indies 3rd Test
England’s batsmen recovered well from a slow start on Day 3 of the third Test against West Indies at Edgbaston. Joe Root and Ben Stokes combined on a 115-run sixth wicket partnership, helping their hosts build an advantage before Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales also contributed with bowling contributions. But ultimately the game came down to Chris Woakes; in just his second Test he scored 62 runs, almost reaching his maiden century.
England are ahead of West Indies by 94 runs going into the final day of their test match. After an inauspicious start that saw them collapse to 54/5 at one stage before Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva salvaged something out of it with some hard hitting. Chris Woakes and Jamie Smith combined for an important 106-run stand that held back any chance for West Indies recovery.
Even with England’s strong performance so far, they still face a daunting challenge to reach 300 runs and seize control of this Test match. Their batsmen must bat through 10 overs before hoping that the pitch does not change too drastically and give themselves an opportunity to reach victory.
Wood’s short and on middle delivery from England’s Wood swivels the bat to hit an easy four over long on. A good sign that England are taking this challenge seriously rather than waiting for moments.
Wood unleashes a short straight delivery that hits the stumps flutteringly, but the umpire doesn’t review it further – possibly hitting either shoulder or helmet of keeper as possible target!
England vs West Indies 4th Test
England came back from being behind to win the 2024 Richards-Botham Trophy with an unassailable 2-0 advantage in the three-match series, thanks to Shoaib Bashir’s five-wicket haul at Trent Bridge Test; Muttiah Muralitharan last achieved this feat back in 2006. Alzarri Joseph and Shane Dowrich made key contributions with bat as well.
On Day 2, Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge’s unshakeable partnership of 175 runs forced England to work hard. But captain Ben Stokes displayed great leadership with the ball, combining speedy fast bowling with quality spin bowling to break up West Indies innings.
Even after their disappointment at Lord’s, the Windies managed to react well in this Test with determined batting and outstanding fielding performances. But in the final session of play, their innings collapsed with 19 wickets lost before being dismissed for only 165; their lowest total ever at home and leaving them vulnerable against an unwanted whitewash.
At first, it seemed wise to allow Darren Bravo and Shai Hope to build an unbreakable partnership, but this proved a mistake when both were run out by spinners within minutes of each other, leading the hosts to reach 310-5 at tea.
West Indies batsmen Joshua Da Silva and Jason Holder struggled throughout the day on an increasingly lifeless pitch, until Gus Atkinson joined the attack and delivered with purpose and intensity – answering his skipper’s call with some powerful deliveries that helped turn around their fortunes.
Holder, supported by Kavem Hodge’s classy 111, guided England out of trouble during an exciting match that ended with them dismissing India for 279. Unfortunately for them, however, Woakes and Bashir delivered brilliant bowling performances to put an end to it and hand England an unassailable 3-0 advantage in this three-test series; on Friday they travel back to Edgbaston for another battle that could ultimately determine a place in the World Cup semifinals. To know more about sports like football, cricket, kabaddi, polo and many more just follow us: https://sportskhabar.co.uk/
