England will need to make good use of the ball on the third morning of the first Test if they are to maintain a strong position against West Indies. All out for 399, following the loss of five wickets for 20 to the second new ball, England reduced the hosts to 99 for four before an unbroken stand of 56 between, inevitably, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (29 not out) and Jermaine Blackwood (30 not out) saw them to the close.
The tourists may come to regret Ben Stokes sending down a no-ball from which Blackwood, then 21, had edged a slip catch that would have seen West Indies 133 for five with more than an hour to play. This is not something unfamiliar from Stokes, who deprived himself of a first Test wicket in Adelaide two winters ago through a similar transgression.
The England innings was given some final impetus with a last-wicket partnership between Jimmy Anderson and Chris Jordan that produced 38 runs, Jordan finishing with an unbeaten 21.
The Sussex paceman then followed this up with the wicket of Darren Bravo, one of three catches for the wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, and a superb catch from the off-spin of James Tredwell, low and away to his right to dismiss Kraigg Brathwaite, an old schoolfriend from his days in Barbados. Jordan is renowned for possessing wonderful catching abilities and this was one of the finest.
“It was a reaction catch,” he said after play. “I saw it all the way and managed to hang on. I took one at Southampton off Moeen Ali that was as good.”
For a big fellow, his agility is remarkable, the secret to his catching lying in an ability to stay low.
“Yes, I stay very low,” he explained. “ I try to do this against seam or spin because it is easier to go from low to high rather than the other way round. For many the tendency is to stand up too early. I try to work really hard on my catching, as hard as I do on batting and bowling.”
How the match progresses depends on whether the pitch starts to offer more help to the bowlers.
“It wasn’t easy bowling to the Ambrose end, with the wind coming across, but the pitch on the whole is very good to get in on and you can score runs,” added Jordan.
“But there is enough carry there for the bowlers to keep them interested. If you can move the odd one you can draw a mistake. It is a good cricket pitch.”
Off the field, England are expected to be lifted by the news that the Worcestershire batsman Moeen Ali is expected to join up with the party in time for the second Test in Grenada after recovering from injury having played in the defeat to Yorkshire.
