By Clayton Goodwin
England 416 (Ollie Pope 121, Ben Duckett 71, Ben Stokes 69) & 248-3(Ben Duckett 76, Harry Brook 71 n.o., Ollie Pope 51): West Indies 457 (Kavem Hodge 120, Joshua Da Silva 82 n.o., Alick Athaneze 82, Chris Woakes 4-84)
The third day of the Second Test at Trent Bridge began with fireworks and ended in more conventional attrition. Joshua Da Silva and Shamar Joseph sparkled West Indies into a 41 runs lead by lunch but as the light darkened England’s batsmen clawed their way back into contention and at 248-3 the close, a 207 runs lead, had the advantage. West Indies must be worried that, in spite of the unexpected brilliance of the batting, their bowling has not been able to break through. Yet everything in this match to date has shown that nothing can be taken for certain especially as the pitch is still playing well. One session is a very long time in cricket, and there are still six of those to go.
The morning session produced the most amazing session of what had become already and amazing game of cricket. It started in conventional, a little disappointing as England worked their way through West Indies lower-order. Jason Holder and Kevin Siclair fell to catches along the way, and when Chris Woakes dismissed Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales with consecutive deliveries (386-9) it was all over bar the shouting. But what a shouting there was. Joshua Da Silva, who had shepherded the vulnerable batting, took a back seat as Shamar Joseph hit out with 6, 6 and from successive balls from the menacing Mark Wood. The first brought the totals level and the second put the tourists ahead – in the process breaking tiles on a building-roof. When spin was tried Da Silva got into the act by lashing four successive balls from Joe Root for three fours and a six. The last-pair had prolonged the break for lunch by the time Shamar Joseph, whose infectious enjoyment reminds very old-timers of the approach of Collie Smith, was caught by Atkinson at 457 to give Wood his only wicket. Their partnership of 61 runs gave West Indies a first innings lead of 41 runs.
The wonders continued when England resumed after the interval. Before the score had reached double-figures Ben Duckett drove Jayden Seales back past the bowler whose finger barely grazed the ball as it ran out Zak Crawley while he was backing up. New batsman Ollie Pope’s bat fractured on impact with the ball, and the broken piece almost hit the stumps. After that Duckett and Pope ground out their innings in the conventional manner. The fast bowlers neither threatened nor whether they collared. At 83-1 Duckett hit off-spinner Kevin Sinclair for fours off three consecutive deliveries, reaching his second half-century of the match in 55 balls. With the skies darkening and a hint of rain in the air England came in to tea at 116-1 (75 runs ahead).
The light and the day closed in. There was a brief rain delay. The floodlights came on and the play became more attritional, especially after Pope was caught by Sinclair from Alzarri Joseph immediately after the ball had been changed (one of the many times this had happened in the match) and Duckett had fallen l.b.w to a yorker by the same bowler. The Yorkshire batsmen Joe Root and Harry Brook, who reached their hundred partnership just before the close, batted with determination and confidence, interlaced with boundaries, to take England to a strong position.