West Indies 137 for 6 (Holder 24*, Dowrich 10*) trail England 369 (Pope 91, Buttler 67, Broad 62, Burns 57, Roach 4-71) by 232 runs
A throw-back performance with the bat and a more modern turn with the ball from Stuart Broad had England in control of their destiny after the second day of the deciding Test against West Indies.
James Anderson weighed in heavily as part of an enviable England seam attack in favourable conditions at Emirates Old Trafford to leave West Indies 137 for 6 – still 33 short of avoiding the follow-on – when bad light stopped play.
England’s position was not nearly as promising after a mini-collapse sent them from 258 for 4 at the start of play to 280 for 8 inside the first hour.
The scene was set for Ollie Pope, resuming on 91 not out, to reach his second Test century and Jos Buttler, unbeaten on 56, to convert a confidence-boosting knock into a statement-making big score. But neither of the protagonists from the previous day featured and nor did the rain that was expected to wipe out all of Saturday’s play, but which didn’t make an entrance at all.
Shannon Gabriel ignited West Indies’ charge with the second new ball – which was only 3.4 overs old before bad light had stopped play the previous evening – when he had Pope out without adding to his overnight score in an eventful spell.
Gabriel twice over-stepped while hitting Buttler on the pad, with replays also suggesting he’d found an inside edge both times. He then had Pope put down at slip by Rahkeem Cornwall, who had taken a blinder there the previous day and whose slips fielding is highly rated. On this occasion, Cornwall got both hands to an outside edge from Pope at waist height but shelled it to hand the batsman a life.
With the first ball of his next over, however, Gabriel got his man when Pope aimed to whip a straight ball into the leg side, but it whizzed past his bat and crashed into middle and off.
Kemar Roach then claimed his 200th Test wicket when he had Chris Woakes out, chopping on. Having waited the best part of 11 months and 521 deliveries before breaking his wicket drought in last week’s second Test, Roach became the ninth West Indies player to reach the milestone.
Gabriel had Buttler out for 67 to a sharp, low catch by Jason Holder at second slip, then and Roach and Holder combined to dismiss Jofra Archer, Holder taking another good slips catch.
That brought Broad to the crease and it was the Broad of old, the one known for his batting ability and regarded as a genuine all-round talent before he was struck by a Varun Aaron bouncer on this ground in 2014. On this occasion, he raced to fifty off just 33 balls – equal third-fastest by an England batsman.
He sent a thunderous six off Roach high over midwicket and drove Gabriel intently for four, but Broad took a particular liking to Holder’s bowling, picking off three fours from one over and two consecutive fours off his next. Broad also brought up his half-century with a blazing stroke over backward square off Holder.
It was Roston Chase who got rid of him, Broad sending a low full toss sent straight to Jermaine Blackwood at deep midwicket, but not before he had put on a very handy 62 from 45 balls. It was Broad’s 13th Test half-century but his first since 2017.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo