It was not until after tea on the fourth day that England finally managed to get their noses in front of West Indies in a captivating, flawed contest that royally entertained a healthy Bank Holiday crowd in excess of 8,000.
Up to that point the game had ebbed and flowed intriguingly with England restoring the situation via Joe Root and Ben Stokes as well as being indebted to a passive knock from Dawid Malan before yielding three quick wickets to the off-spinner Roston Chase in the afternoon session. At the fall of the third one – that of Jonny Bairstow – England were 327 for seven with a lead of 158. The match was deliciously in the balance, whereupon West Indies imploded thanks mainly to some blinkered tactical decisions.
By now their fast bowlers, who had toiled nobly throughout, were weary; the sun was still out, the pitch was dozing but England were suddenly vulnerable again. West Indies missed their chance spectacularly. Everyone knows how easy this game is from the sidelines but this is not hindsight.
The ball was turning for Chase bowling up the hill and, with 20 minutes until tea, there had to be a change down the slope. The situation was crying out for Devendra Bishoo to fill that slot. The wrist-spinner has demonstrated his frailties in this match, bowling too short, yielding runs too easily. But now there were two new batsmen in, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes, and there was tension in the air. Moreover the pacemen were exhausted. Yet back came Kemar Roach; Moeen crunched three majestic boundaries off him and was on his way.
The situation was compounded after tea when Jason Holder declined to use his two spinners. Instead his pacemen, still exhausted, shared four overs up the hill which yielded 45 runs. To make matters worse Bishoo, down the slope, had Moeen caught behind off what was deemed to be a no-ball by the umpire Sundaram Ravi – the replays suggested the bowler’s foot was behind the line but in the air when the ball was released. If so, that does not constitute a no-ball.
Moeen and Woakes now produced a superb partnership of 117 from 143 balls. Moeen, in particular, sparkled; his was a brilliant innings but what a kick‑start he was given by the inability of the West Indies camp to read the situation at the fall of England’s seventh wicket.
In that evening session Moeen was irresistible. He must have felt terrible when he dropped the simplest of catches on Sunday morning to reprieve Jermaine Blackwood. But here was some atonement. By the middle of the third session he was hitting fours at will and by then it did not matter who was bowling. This was further demonstration of the virtues of a deep batting line-up especially since he found Woakes, who was also quite capable of scoring rapidly off weary pacemen, a willing ally.
For almost two sessions run-scoring had been so much trickier. There were no demons in the pitch but the West Indies bowlers stuck nobly to the task. Unsurprisingly Root scored much more easily than Malan, intentionally gliding boundaries down to third man. But when he tried to repeat the shot against a short ball from Gabriel which jagged into his body he was suddenly cramped for space, so that he could only slice the ball to Shai Hope in the gully. For most people 72 is a minor triumph but there will still be the odd mumble about “another Root 70”.
Then came the first example of the day of West Indies’ self-destructive streak. An edge from Malan on 32 had Shane Dowrich diving to his left then withdrawing late on, which made the catch all the more difficult for Kieran Powell at slip. Once again it did not stick.
So Malan and Stokes could add 91 together and no guesses are required to establish the senior partner. Stokes was especially severe on Gabriel but he lost concentration against the first ball after the drinks interval when he was caught at long-off against Chase for 58.
This dismissal sparked a mini-collapse. Malan had battled away to what may well have been his ugliest and most significant half-century in first-class cricket. It was certainly his slowest. After four hours and 39 minutes at the crease and the careful acquisition of 61 runs he was bowled by a beauty from Chase, an innings which enhances his standing in the side. Jonny Bairstow bristled briefly. There were four sumptuous boundaries; then he sought a fifth via a reverse sweep that Geoff Boycott certainly did not teach him. He was bowled and this is when West Indies had their chance, which was blown in the space of half an hour.
Moeen and Woakes shredded the pace bowlers with a stream of glorious drives and for a while it looked as if Moeen might record his second Test century at Headingley. Then he was caught on the leg-side boundary for 84 (from 93 balls) merrily heaving away at Bishoo. Stuart Broad, relishing the fact that the pacemen were spent, now helped Woakes add another 46 before Root made his declaration, leaving West Indies needing 322 for victory. At the start of the Test they might have settled for that situation; at 3.25pm on Monday afternoon they must have expected so much more.
West Indies’ solitary consolation was that they reached the close with all their wickets intact.
