We have a game on our hands. West Indies came back strongly in the evening session of the second day to punch a new-ball hole in the second England innings that left the visitors clinging on. Jonathan Trott, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell (this one completing a pair), Joe Root and Moeen Ali were all sent packing in the first 20 overs as West Indies celebrated and the crowd, a sea of England supporters, were quietened. All this after Jimmy Anderson had produced another virtuoso performance to help give England a first-innings lead of 69. How valuable that proves must await the final analysis, but England were soon tumbling into a deeply tricky situation of 39 for five at close of play.
Anderson was magnificent. Quite how much the imminent prospect of breaking Ian Botham’s record number of Test wickets for England was becoming a burden only he really knows. Was it dragging him down, preying on his mind? Certainly it seemed as if he was edging towards it, like a cyclist puffing and panting painfully to the summit of a pass, rather than rushing at it. Now, since that peak was reached in Antigua, he has become like the same cyclist, but on the other side of the hill now, freewheeling downhill with his feet on the handlebars so that 400 wickets has now become a real possibility before this match is done. Now he took 6 for 42, three of them in a new-ball burst of rare quality that stopped in its tracks the West Indies’ response to England’s first innings 257.
It was the 17th five-wicket haul of his career, and with 16 wickets now in the series he needs only four more to reach a career total of 400. No one would bet heavily against it happening in the second innings. He is a cricketer unshackled.
West Indies were dismissed just inside 50 overs for 189, of which Jermaine Blackwood, with some thrilling counterpunching, made 85 before he was last out, which gave England a lead of 69, a valuable one given the increasingly capricious nature of the pitch which has maintained its pace and bounce but has offered spin, and some variable bounce now.
It did though mean what might be one final Test match innings for Trott – for no matter how he were to go, the manner of his first innings dismissal told too much. There was enormous encouragement from the crowd however, affection even, and the roar as he clipped a leg-stump half-volley to the square-leg boundary to get off his pair was as loud as anything all day. He played comfortably but his compulsion to throw himself across to offside in order to work the legside remains. The 18th ball of what must now be his final Test match innings was hitting middle as he played all round it. As he left the field he was accorded a standing ovation, recognition of a fine career come to an end.
Anderson is inspirational, a talismanic figure in the England side. His burst on the final morning in Grenada effectively won them the match, and typical that he should rise to the occasion. Here he was given better tools with which to work for the pace in the pitch, and the extra bounce that could be generated meant that he could pitch the ball further up while gaining the same carry, so that his swing would be that much more effective. Pitch it up he did, and his first two wickets fell to catches at third and first slip. The very best of Anderson came with his dismissal of Marlon Samuels, however, which he managed with trickery of a kind available to no other bowler in the world, of which any wrist-spinner, with a leg break and heavily disguised googly would be proud.
Two away-swingers were sent down, and twice Samuels, spotting them readily enough, allowed them to pass harmlessly by, even with a hint of disdain. Now though came the sucker punch, the three-card trick. A shift in the pressure of his first and middle finger on top of the ball, a slight adjustment of the supporting thumb, and he produced instead a booming trademark Anderson inswinger, which homed in on to Samuels pads even as his bat was still waving in the air. The batsman reviewed the inevitable raising of the umpire’s finger, but he could do so until hell freezes over and it would still show the ball about to detonate his stumps from the ground. For a swing bowler, this is as good as it gets.
The cause was helped by some excellent catching, although Cook did drop Darren Bravo at first slip, one of those chances that comes at the uncomfortable height where the fielder must decide whether to take fingers up or down. There was a fine, diving boundary catch by Moeen Ali to end the innings, and three for Chris Jordan, the last one of which, to dismiss Shivnarine Chanderpaul off Root, was as astonishing as those he took in each of the first two Tests, this one a reaction to his right as, wrong-footed, he changed direction and took the ball after it had passed him.
The loss of Cook to what proved to be the last ball of the first day was a big blow to England getting a substantial total. As it was ,the innings lasted only a further 45 minutes in the morning during which time they gained only 17 runs from the last three wickets as Jerome Taylor blew them away. Jos Buttler must take some blame for not marshalling the tail. He faced eight of the 25 balls after Jordan, the first wicket to fall, was out and scored not one run more. You don’t get many from the non-strikers end.
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