So there we go; the teams go to Lord’s all square, for what will hopefully be a brilliant decider. We’ll see you for that, but in the meantime let’s continue enjoying this. Bye!
It’s impossible to overstate how good that was. Stuart Law says he always knew it was possible, and that his team needed to believe in it.
“Someone had to do it so I put my hand up,” deadpans Shai Hope. Rrrrrridiculous. He’s then told about the record he set today, the first man to score tons in both innings at Headingley in 534 first-class matches. “Thanks for the news,” he deadpans. What a man!
There’s not much in the world that’s more uplifting than sport, and there’s not much in the world that’s more uplifting than a redemption tale, and there’s not much in the world that’s more uplifting than the explosion of youth, and there’s not much in the world that’s more uplifting than drama, and this Test match, that chase, was all of those things. This Test match is precisely why Test matches exist, a fascinating, fluctuating, thrilling experience of brilliance. Dive in, people.
WHAT A WONDROUS PERFORMANCE! WEST INDIES BEAT ENGLAND BY FIVE WICKETS! THIS IS ASTONISHING! STAMP YOUR FEET, CLAP YOUR HANDS, THAT IS FANTASTIC!
90th over: West Indies 320-5 (S Hope 118, Dowrich 0) target 322 Hope clips off his hip, the ball struggles to the fence, and it’s done! What an innings that is, notable most of all for its calmness. That takes a very special kind of player.
Updated
Hope is now on strike, and rightly so....
Updated
WICKET! Blackwood st Bairstow b Ali 41 (West Indies 320-5)
Blackwood tries to finish it in style, heaving as he comes down, missing, and Bairstow has the bails off in a trice.
90th over: West Indies 320-4 (S Hope 116, Blackwood 41) target 322 Blackwood has go! He whacks Moeen to wide long on ... and BEN STOKES DROPS IT! BEN STOKES DROPS IT! BEN STOKES! That is not something we see very often. anyway, they run one, then add another; four to go. Blackwood takes his helmet off, maybe he wants the full sensory experience as he milks his magnificence, drives down the ground but gets one. Hope gets one too ... two to win...
90th over: West Indies 316-4 (S Hope 114, Blackwood 36) target 322. Root hands Woakes the ball; enjoy, old pal! This isn’t even tense anymore, the batsmen are pounding I’m sure, but they can actually enjoy the moment rather than the pressure. In a way, they probably don’t even want this to end; they’ll have to go some for their professional lives to get this good again. Damn, who am I trying to kid; for their lives to get this good again. I only know one side of this, but I’d not mind betting that winning Test for your team, in wonderful, unbelievable style, beats watching your wife endure labour, for example. Anyway, Woakes hurls down a wide - a very wide - then the batsmen take a single each, and that’s seven required. Then another single jabbed out of the block hole, and one zetz is all it takes! I daresay Blackwood fancies ending things that way.
89th over: West Indies 312-4 (S Hope 113, Blackwood 37) target 322. Oh my, what is coming to pass here. West Indies need 12 from a minimum of eight overs, and they’re absolutely bousting home! They’ve not won a Test in England for 17 years! 17 years! Exclamation! Hope cuts two, the partnership now 66, and this is simply phenomenal stuff! Hope turns away on the on side and dabs behind on the off side, but neither yield runs.
88th over: West Indies 310-4 (S Hope 111, Blackwood 37) target 322. Blackwood makes room off a back of a length delivery from Broad and cuts down to third man for four. The next one goes to the ropes too, but umpire Ravi deemed that Blackwood played no shot despite the fact that he’d got himself in a tangle trying to hit it/ducking out of it as it speared down legside and squirmed under him to the boundary. Odd decision. No matter, he takes two next ball and then upper cuts over Moeen at third man for a remarkable SIX. Now that’s brilliant cricket in the circumstances. And with that I’ll hand you back to Daniel to describe the clinching, surely, of a memorable and remarkable victory.
87th over: West Indies 298-4 (S Hope 111, Blackwood 25) target 322. Hope is almost done for by one that keeps low from Moeen but manages to turn it round the corner for one. Blackwood also gets one, but with a much less elegant hack out to deep midwicket. Then Moeen makes one turn, a lot, so much that it beats batsman and keeper and runs up the hill for four byes. When your luck’s out …
86th over: West Indies 292-4 (S Hope 110, Blackwood 24) target 322. Hope puts Blackwood on strike with an easy one through the covers off Broad, but Blackwood swiftly rotates it with another comfortable single. Broad comes back with another fast and true bouncer, but a well-hurried single adds to Broad’s frustrations at the end of the over. West Indies still on course, 30 needed from 10.
85th over: West Indies 289-4 (S Hope 108, Blackwood 23) target 322. So England resort to Moeen Ali with only the fifth over with the new ball. Blackwood tries to launch him over the top straight away but slices up in the air to the vacant backward point region and gets a single. Hope then survives a stumping review before on-driving for one.
Review rejected! Hope st Bairstow b Moeen?
Is Hope gone here? He swipes and misses, Bairstow whips the bails off, but he was inside the crease. Not out.
84th over: West Indies 287-4 (S Hope 107, Blackwood 22) target 322. At what point do England’s victory hopes get written off? And if they are, what’s the approach to preventing the defeat? Anyway, Blackwood aggressively toe-ends a weird kind of shot down to third man for a single. Then, another Cook drop! He puts Hope down, parrying a sharp sliced edge. What a moment. It was a tough chance but he’ll have been expected to take it.
83rd over: West Indies 284-4 (S Hope 106, Blackwood 20) target 322. This is a real test of patience for West Indies - the target’s in sight but they’ve got time to do it so don’t need to be too rash. Nonetheless, a classy operator like Hope knows what to do when offered a little width outside off stump and he drives confidently for four. He also does well to clip an extravagantly inswinging seam-up ball from Anderson through midwicket for a couple more.
82nd over: West Indies 278-4 (S Hope 100, Blackwood 20) target 322. Broad returns, as we enter the final hour/15 overs mini. Can he rediscover his verve of the morning session? He’s reasonably accurate, but can’t stop Hope bringing up his hundred with an inside-edged ricochet off his pads and they scurry through for a single. Blackwood adds one more - 44 needed.
Hundred for Shai Hope!
Hope inside edges onto his pads and rushes through for his hundred, becoming the first player EVER to score two hundreds in a first-class match at Headingley. It’s been a superb innings.
Updated
81st over: West Indies 276-4 (S Hope 99, Blackwood 18) target 322. England don’t hesitate to take the new ball, which is given to Anderson, who is still three scalps away from that 500 landmark. It feels like a day-night Test out there, with the lights on full, which may also favour England. Or it may not Hope whips the first ball with it confidently away on the legside for one before Blackwood steps back and lifts the second delivery straight over the ropes for an astonishing SIX. That was an incredible mow - agricultural looking yet glorious in its audacity and clean execution. He tries to repeat the trick but this one falls short if the ropes, and an advancing long-off and brings just one. One more takes Hope to 99. Blackwood then swings and misses at a slower wider ball and much-needed drinks are signalled. Phew.
“I’d like to see Root give himself an over or two,” says Gavin Facey, thinking outside the box. “Maybe not now as it’s getting a bit too tight, but earlier on it would’ve been worth a shout, if only for the fact that things seem to happen when he is involved. His aura alone could be enough to get a breakthrough.”
80th over: West Indies 266-4 (S Hope 97, Blackwood 10) target 322. Woakes has the last over before the new ball is due, in what looks to be ever deepening Headingley murk. It brings three singles and a crunching on-drive for four from Blackwood, while Hope is now three away from a historic hundred.
79th over: West Indies 259-4 (S Hope 95, Blackwood 6) target 322. Moeen turns one in low at Hope’s pads, and Root consents to a review given that the clock will be reset with the new ball’s arrival. And it looks pretty close, clipping in fact, so stays with umpire’s call. Hope pushes square on the offside for a single, giving Blackwood three balls to have a go at Moeen. But he’s a bit more sensible this time, playing out a dot before pushing to deep mid-off for a single. Hope adds another to keep the strike.
Here’s that Crane catch:
What a catch from Mason Crane! Four down! LIVE: https://t.co/fj9iNi6t9u pic.twitter.com/SMvOkzUNkW
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 29, 2017
78th over: West Indies 256-4 (S Hope 93, Blackwood 5) target 322 Broad is back on the field, as Crane gets hearty applause on his departure. Woakes continues from the Kirkstall Lane end. Hope adds a single before Blackwood plays and misses rashly outside off-stump at a nothing delivery. He’s looking like a walking match-winner and match-loser simultaneously here, but he’s also beaten by a genuine jaffa outside off-stump from Woakes. He might want to calm down a bit here. A minimum of 18 overs remain.
Updated
77th over: West Indies 255-4 (S Hope 92, Blackwood 5) target 322 Hope slices Moeen past backward point and gets three thanks to the sluggish outfield in that part of the ground, and Blackwood then gets going with a push down the ground off one that turns in sharply. Hope elegantly turns another round the corner for one before Blackwood takes a gamble, deliciously, by hoiking four over long-on, finding the gap between the three (count ‘em!) fielders placed out there. He then nearly runs himself out with an ill-advised scamper and scamper-back. This is breathless stuff.
“Winston Chase caught by Mason Crane - who scripts these plot lines?” quips Brian Withington, throwing a few more ingredients into our headline soup.
76th over: West Indies 246-4 (S Hope 88, Blackwood 0) target 322 This dogged, nagging partnership is brought to an end by the hitherto underwhelming Woakes, hiding the seam, who dismisses Chase courtesy of Mason Crane’s fine catch. The Hampshire man had only just come on too. The new batsman, Blackwood, who won’t hang about, hacks gracelessly at his first ball outside off stump and gets nowhere near it, and then wisely leaves for the rest of the over, a wicket maiden that has England’s pecker up again.
Wicket! Chase c Sub (Crane) b Woakes 30, West Indies 246-4
What a catch. Chase tries to launch Woakes over mid-on and the sub fielder, Mason Crane, plucks it out of the air diving high to his left. Game on! Or rather, game even more on than it already was!
Updated
75th over: West Indies 246-3 (S Hope 88, Chase 30) target 322 Thanks Daniel. And what a finish we have in store. You’d have got long odds on England v West Indies at Headingley being the Test of the summer, nay year, at the start of 2017 but here we are. All four results still possible at 5.22 on day five. Anderson sends down a tight over, yielding only one thanks to a fine stop by Stokes at backward point from a crunching drive that was headed for the boundary. The run rate creeps up. Botham still reckons the draw’s the favourite.
74th over: West Indies 245-3 (S Hope 88, Chase 29) target 322 I guess it’s possible that the new ball will go to Stokes, Woakes, or Stokes and Wokaes, both of whom have some pace but both of whom might disappear. Or maybe England won’t take it ... oh my! Chase nurdles to off, Stokes turns and shies, misses by plenty, and the ball rushes over the boundary for a five! You’ve got to laugh; even Stuart Broad sees the funny side. Not really.
Anyway, here’s Tom Davies to call West Indies home.
73rd over: West Indies 240-3 (S Hope 88, Chase 24) target 322 Anderson in again; increasingly, this all looks like being decided with the second new ball. Either England gets some wickets, or it disappears to the fence via meat and edge. And there’s an edge! Chase with it, it’s a thin one, and disappears between keeper and slip. Perhaps they should be closer, Beefy will no doubt tell us presently. And there’s another edge! This is breathless stuff now! The ball drops short of Root!
Updated
72nd over: West Indies 235-3 (S Hope 88, Chase 19) target 322 Broad has what will surely be the final over his spell and tempts Chase into a pull, which he diverts into the ground about nine inches in front of his stumps. The ball then bounces over those stumps, and Broad is chagrined.
“No doubt England’s bowlers and captain will get a media flogging,” emails Alistair Maiden, “but the selectors are culpable for yet again picking an all medium pace right arm attack despite the luxury of 4 all rounders. Surely there is room for a luxury bowler. Pace of Archer. Bounce of Overton. Left arm guile of Footitt or Scurran or some wrist spin from Rash or Mason. I predict annihilation in Aus on flat decks on sunny days unless this issue is addressed pronto.
On a positive note nice to see Windies playing so well for a change. Stoneman looked the part.”
It’s tricky. Woakes looked the part before his injury, but I accept what you say about variety, plus I wonder if he’ll ever been more than a deluxe Bresnan, i.e. a bloke who bats nicely and gets important wickets, but not enough wickets. I don’t get to watch much county cricket, but wonder if the lads you name are Test standard yet.
71st over: West Indies 232-3 (S Hope 87, Chase 17) target 322 I wonder if this mini-session is England reasserting themselves: the scoring rate has slowed and the new ball is soon due. But there goes Hope, finally forsaking the 70s with a booming drive of a wide one, the ball whizzing to backward point. England also have a problem imminent, in that they’ll need to trust Woakes with the ball once their top boys have a rest. And meantime, Anderson finds some lift, so Hope thick inside-edges for four at fine leg. West Indies now need 90 to win. The last hour begins in 10 overs’ time after which we’ll have a minimum of 15 overs.
70th over: West Indies 223-3 (S Hope 79, Chase 17) target 322 Broad gets one to lift off a length, but Chase plays is well, down into the pitch. He then turns a single towards midwicket, and he’s nearly away from the 70s.
I’m beginning to wonder if Hope and Chase are names too good to be in the same headline, but:
BRAH WAITE! CHASE HOPE!
Updated
Guess what? The ball wasn’t hitting! Or even close to hitting!
70th over: West Indies 223-3 (S Hope 78, Chase 17) target 322 Hope back-cuts Broad, but a diving stop from Root at slip saves four. There’s nothing he can do next up though, the ball flicking the pad and going for four ... Broad wants to know how far across he got, and he persuades Root to review!
69th over: West Indies 219-3 (S Hope 78, Chase 17) target 322 Surely Anderson will be off after this one ... and yet he’s keeping things tight, which is increasing the pressure. I don’t know, basically. 27 over remain in the Test.
68th over: West Indies 219-3 (S Hope 78, Chase 17) target 322 And here’s Broad, who hurls down a maiden at Hope. After scoring nicely, he’s been in the 70s for a while, and when he does middle one, the ball goes straight to the fielder - he grimaces, but will know he must stay patient.
“The Auchasity of Hope,” emails Niall Mullen; “Not so much a headline, but maybe a calypso with the last line of a chorus,” emails John Starbuck. “‘Hope is forward in the famous Chase’. No? Oh well, do your own then - a challenge for the OBO.”
67th over: West Indies 219-3 (S Hope 78, Chase 17) target 322 Anderson slings down another maiden, and I wonder if that’ll be it for him; Root will want him fresh for the new ball. On the other hand, the ball started to go a bit in that over, so I’d expect to see Broad, Stokes on soon.
“In all the comments about supposed ineptitude of this West Indies team,” emails Geoff Wignall, “I’ve seen little mention of their scant experience of English conditions. Perhaps they’re starting to get the hang of it. A joy to have a proper test match, whatever the reasons.”
Agreed, was thinking about this earlier, and how someone less BUSY than me needs to compare the result of first Tests with those later in serieses.
66th over: West Indies 219-3 (S Hope 78, Chase 17) target 322 Chase drives to mid off and they run two, then takes a single and so does Hope. Is it even possible to force a headline using both names? Anyway, the latter is totally befuddled by Moeen’s last ball, squared up by one which doesn’t spin ... he manages to avoid imparting an edge.
65th over: West Indies 214-3 (S Hope 77, Chase 13) target 322 Great ball from Anderson to Chase, jutting in and looking a cert for the pads. But the batsman does brilliantly to impart an edge, and he may need more of the same in the next bit. After a go outside off at the end of the afternoon session, Anderson is now going dead straight. Anyway, I HOPE West Indies CHASE this down and let’s say they do. What’re your headlines?
64th over: West Indies 212-3 (S Hope 76, Chase 12) target 322 Chase looks confident and plays Moeen well. He welts a drive for four through backward point, adds a single, and Hope does likewise.
63rd over: West Indies 204-3 (S Hope 75, Chase 7) target 322 Anderson will bowl, not being saved for the new ball, and Athers notes that chase can play, his Test average now being 42.44 and 45 or so before this series. Which is to say that he can play. Two from the over.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
Mirpur Test wonderfully poised. Australia close third day at 109-2 chasing 265. Remember England were 100-0 chasing 273, lost by 108 runs.
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 29, 2017
62nd over: West Indies 204-3 (S Hope 74, Chase 6) target 322 Moeen has the ball, and and spins one past Chase’s edge. In the interval, we were told that Warne’s been texting his mates telling him to slow down to 50, 51mph, and it was with one of that pace that he took the wicket. But he’ll not get one like that, that being a high full toss, swatted to the fence with glee by Chase.
Incidentally, the new ball is due in not too long, a handy by-product of England’s early declaration yesterday.
Updated
The players are back in the middle, so eyes down for another sensational session of Test cricket.
It’s not the Brathwaite, Laura. I can take the Brathwaite. It’s the Hope I can’t stand.
What a session that was! For West Indies in particular, but the seven billion or so citizens of nowhere the world too. 113 runs, a fantastic partnership, two fantastic innings, some losings of tempers and bare tension in general. We may well be about to see something special - join me in 20 minutes to find out.
Updated
61st over: West Indies 199-3 (S Hope 74, Chase 1) target 322 There’s time for one more over before tea, and Jimmy-James will bowl it. He’ll want a shai shy at Chase and gets the first three balls, but yerman does well and then skives down the other end. Three dots, and that’s tea.
60th over: West Indies 198-3 (S Hope 74, Chase 1) target 322 You could see England’s relief in how they celebrated that wicket, but there’s still work to do. In the meantime, though, well bowled Moeen Ali, who risked handing an opponent a historic landmark with a much slower delivery, and well taken Ben Stokes.
Updated
AAAARRRRGGHHHH WICKET! Brathwaite c Stokes b Ali 95 (West Indies 197-3)
Moeen tosses a tempter outside off stump, Brathwaite can’t help but have a drive, and he edges to slip. In its 534th first-class match, Headingley still waits for its first two-innings centurion. What a knock that was! What composure! What skill! What testicles!
Updated
60th over: West Indies 197-2 (Brathwaite 95, S Hope 74) target 322 England have chilled out the scoring these last few overs, but will Brathwaite try and get his hunnert before tea as he did in the first innings?
59th over: West Indies 197-2 (Brathwaite 95, S Hope 74) target 322 Brathwaite guides through wide mid-off and they run two; Anderson has a heavily biased off side field, and presumably will bowl outside of off stump, given he has neither fine leg nor square leg. But the best ball of the over is directed towards the stump, turning Brathwaite around ... but he still gets bat on it.
58th over: West Indies 194-2 (Brathwaite 92, S Hope 74) target 322 Hope has a swing at Moeen - not like that - and misses entirely, just outside off. He does better next ball, but the bowler gathers by the stumps. Maiden.
57th over: West Indies 194-2 (Brathwaite 92, S Hope 74) target 322 In comes Anderson again, four runs from the over. And, as John Starbuck chides, “Daniel, I think I heard tea was to be put back until 15:55, so not imminent until ten-to-four.”
My apologies to all I offended.
56th over: West Indies 190-2 (Brathwaite 89, S Hope 74) target 322 Moeen is coming back, a change I find a little harder to explain. For the first time this afternoon, England were building pressure with pace; it looked like a ruse worth a bit more time. Brathwaite takes a single into the off side and then Hope is diddled by one which dips sharply; he gets a thin edge to it and survives. The next ball is a goodun too, turning and striking the pad, but Hope was outside the line and then goes deep in the crease to glance four down the hill. This is tense, beautiful, intensifying, affirming stuff.
55th over: West Indies 185-2 (Brathwaite 88, S Hope 70) target 322 Ah! Now we’re talkin’. England are complaining about the ball, Stokes holding it like he’s pulled it out of his nose, but the umpires are having no such thing. Anyway, he’s bowling a bit fuller now, which allows Brathwaite to crump him down through long on with minimal foot movement; bat was more or less perpendicular to pad at the point of impact, so well was that picked that up. This match has been and is such a pleasure, and it’s only going to get better. If this gear doesn’t grab you by the head, heart and soul, maybe try being a different species.
54th over: West Indies 180-2 (Brathwaite 83, S Hope 70) target 322 England change tack, bringing Anderson back for Broad. Obviously such a decision needs no explanation, all the more so with tea imminent, but I thought they might have tried the short stuff for a while longer. Two off the over as the ground fills up and, once again, I find myself noting that Tests last five days because that’s how long Tests need to last. Even those that finish in three or four do so because of the possibility of a fifth day.
400+ balls faced in a Test by WI openers most times
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) August 29, 2017
4 G Greenidge
3 C Gayle/ K BRATHWAITE*
2 L Rowe/ D Haynes#ENGvWI
53rd over: West Indies 178-2 (Brathwaite 83, S Hope 68) target 322 Stokes eventually tempts Brathwaite into the shot he’s been dangling in front of his nose, a pull; he doesn’t get through it, but gets enough of it to add four. Those runs are really important after three consecutively miserly overs, and three more follow it.
“If West Indies do manage to pull this off,” says Venugopal Mani, “will Warne and co finally shut up about ‘sporting declarations’ and understand that Root (and Cook before him) are there to win matches for England and entertainment shouldn’t come before winning from a captain’s point of view? Does this explain Australian selectors’ reluctance to select Warne as captain?”
You could argue that players have a duty to the game, but I think Root declared when he did to try and force a win, not to entertain the crowd - the majority of whom may be most entertained by an England win. I’d guess the Aussie selectors had other reasons not to appoint Warne, some of based on personality or their appraisal of, and some based on practicality; he needed to keep getting wickets, not be distracted by responsibility.
52nd over: West Indies 171-2 (Brathwaite 76, S Hope 67) target 322 If you’re finding the performance of Brathwaite and Hope as inspirational and invigorating as I am, allow me to sprinkle the same with some mortification: they are 24 and 23 respectively! Have that! On the other hand, do they know where Romeo Zondervan was born? Bryan Robson’s birthday? Exactly. Anyway, Broad whooshes one at Brathwaite, a smidgeon of movement away meaning it misses his edge. There’s an appeal nonetheless, but they leave it there. Still, this is much better from England - aided by the crowd, who are cheering each delivery in now. In finding a bit of fire and conviction, they’re also limiting the runs, though we should note that the batsmen are still playing very nicely.
51st over: West Indies 169-2 (Brathwaite 75, S Hope 67) target 322 England bring in a leg gully and have a man on the upper cut too; it’s time for some teeth music. Nasser wants a short leg in, as that’s where the fend tends to go, and one does, immediately, though not in the air. In my primary school playground, when one team got a penalty, the other would stand behind the line chanting “Na-ked women! Na-ked women!” Maybe that’s worth a try. Anyway, one off the over, and perhaps this short stuff is also part of a plan to staunch/devout the flow of runs; I can’t believe either of these two will give it away hooking.
50th over: West Indies 168-2 (Brathwaite 74, S Hope 67) target 322 In commentary, Nasser is wondering whether West indies will go too early, which tells you how comfortable they are; Beefy points out that there are so many overs left, they don’t have top go at all, but can just bat. Around Headingley, the crowd start making a row hoping Broad will respond - it’s been a while since his last fourth-innings ridiculousness, but all he can muster here is a maiden.
Updated
49th over: West Indies 168-2 (Brathwaite 74, S Hope 67) target 322 A quiet over, but one which nonetheless yields four runs. West Indies are doing this like it’s nothing; it’s not nothing.
“In further response to Paul Collins,” emails Brian Withington, “the extra six overs bowled last night might allow the second new ball to be a viable last chance saloon for England. Assuming Braithwaite and Hope are not still batting. And as I write that sentence Moeen Ali comes up with a cunning plan to bury the second new ball scenario ...”
48th over: West Indies 164-2 (Brathwaite 72, S Hope 66) target 322 West Indies have maintained a decent lick throughout this session; the way it’s going, if they stay in, they’ll win, and with something to spare. Hope just looks so relaxed at the crease, and when Broad bangs one in he rides it beautifully, taking a hand off the handle and caressing it into the turf.
@DanielHarris Taking advantage of the free kids tickets @ Headingly today pic.twitter.com/Gy738Z6Mgx
— Pam McKinney (@ischoolpam) August 29, 2017
47th over: West Indies 163-2 (Brathwaite 71, S Hope 66) target 322 Stokes into the attack for the first time this innings, as commentary wonder if Broad kicking the pitch is against the laws. Meanwhile, when Hope uses soft hands to edge Stokes for four, he too experiences ire “Jesus, man!” he cries, and all right-thinking people are offended. I’d ban him for 53 Tests. Broad appears to be warned at the end of the over, and the umpire has a quiet one with Root too.
A few of you are suggesting we should be scared of RGD Willis, and I suppose his ability to hurl a projectile at pace is ultimately frightening if you’re on strike. But I suppose what I’m saying is that I’d back DL Harris A Flintoff and IT Botham to take care of business should it ever come to that.
46th over: West Indies 155-2 (Brathwaite 70, S Hope 59) target 322 Brathwaite defends down ther pitch and running around from mid on, Anderson tries to pick up with his left hand, transfer to his right hand, and shy at the stumps. But he misses the first part, and the ball runs to the fence. Ah. So Broad , easily England’s best bowler today, beats Brathwaite with a leg-cutter as Beefy notes the increasing cloud cover That might help England, but leg side filth will not, and Brathwaite brings up a brilliant century stand with a whip to fine leg. It’s a funny session this, tense and exciting, yet not at all so because of how composedly West Indies are batting. Broad, though, is ticking, kicking turf, air and stuff, so needle and aggro are probably en route.
Updated
45th over: West Indies 147-2 (Brathwaite 62, S Hope 59) target 322 Hope pays two backfoot pulls off Moeen, the first of them murderous; both go for four. These things are all relative, but this is easy for West Indies at the moment.
Updated
44th over: West Indies 136-2 (Brathwaite 59, S Hope 51) target 322 Hope is a fine player, and he snaps four off his pads at the same time as rising on his tippytoes, thus bringing up his 50. What a lovely shot that was. Broad then powers one through him as Hope walks down the pitch. The ball was very close to the edge, the reprieve was earned by the movement at the crease; attacking options, a life lesson for us all there.
@DanielHarris https://t.co/gQUYf4Otcg
— Harry Coleman (@HoratioNK) August 29, 2017
43rd over: West Indies 132-2 (Brathwaite 59, S Hope 47) target 322 Loop from Moeen and drift follows; he’s been bowling pretty flat today. So David Gower, who ought to have a fourth initial - I suppose Ivon is worth two - wonders if he actually nipped off to have a chat with Saqlain. Incidentally, Saqlain has my favourite bio in all Twitter - apart from, perhaps, Sugar Shane Mosley. Imagine being able to say these things of yourself and these things being true. Three off the over, all to Hope.
Updated
42nd over: West Indies 129-2 (Brathwaite 59, S Hope 44) target 322 Broad finds a bit of extra bounce, forcing Hope to take one on the glove. Then he moves one in, only to be foiled by an inside edge; better from England, but West Indies are inching towards something monumentally special.
“What are your thoughts on Joe Root’s declaration last night?” asks Paul Collins. |I thought it was pretty negative myself. England, with Woakes going so well, had a chance to bat WI out of the match and ensure going to Lords up in the series, while still giving themselves 75-80 overs today to possibly bowl out WI. It seemed to me like the type of sporting declaration you see in County Cricket, not the action of a ruthless International captain.”
You can’t do right for doing wrong. I guess England wanted to try and force the win rather than make sure that they couldn’t lose, so took two goes with the new ball. So to me it was a positive move, and by the look of things, those extra overs are going to be required.
41st over: West Indies 128-2 (Brathwaite 59, S Hope 43) target 322 Moeen takes the ball immediately, and rustles through another maiden.
A few of you have noted that IVA and CEL had four initials, and you’d not mess with them. Well, you wouldn’t. I, of course, would. I meant to type the word “English”; if you refresh, you’ll see that it’s now there, so send corrections in that regard please/
40th over: West Indies 128-2 (Brathwaite 59, S Hope 43) target 322 Moeen is off the field, so Broad will shy at Shai; if you give it the Israeli pronunciation, those two words are homonyms. We see a shot of Moeen peering around a door and for a second it looks like he’s in the McDump position, trying to keep an eye on the game, but actually he’s on his way back and trying to remain unobtrusive. Anyway, a maiden, and things are quiet in the middle, exactly what England do not want.
“I’m not as confident as some regarding Woakes’ England future,” emails Kevin Wilson. “So far, he’s got cheap home wickets against an undercooked Sri Lanka and
Pakistan, but it’s his batting that’s arguably been his stronger suit. I don’t think he was the right pick for this Test and fingers crossed he’ll prove me wrong. He’s an excellent one day bowler though.”
I see what you’re saying. Way I look at it, they saw something in him and long time ago when lots of us didn’t, stuck with him, and just as they were proved right, he got injured. The opponents might not have been the best, but it seemed to me that his form was about more than that; he’d found himself as a Test cricketer.
Updated
39th over: West Indies 128-2 (Brathwaite 59, S Hope 43) target 322 I said Root would throw Broad the ball, but perhaps it’ll be Stokes asked to pick a fight. That should be fun, provided he doesn’t upset the authorities by coughing aggressively or blatantly glancing at an opponent.
38th over: West Indies 126-2 (Brathwaite 58, S Hope 42) target 322 Woakes showed enough in that last over to be given another, but his first delivery is on the pads and Hope doesn’t miss out, clipping it to finest leg for four. That takes the runs required to below 200; is something happening here? Woakes then digs one in and cracks yerman on the finger, but he soon shakes it off and gets on with things. He and Brathwaite are finding this pretty straightforward at the moment.
37th over: West Indies 120-2 (Brathwaite 58, S Hope 36) target 322 The partnership is 66 as Moeen begins another over, but Brathwaite seems to have his number, moving towards off stump, eliminating lb, and playing late. At some point Joe Root is going to give Broad the ball and ask him to be scary, I’d guess. Is it possible to be English and scary with four initials?
Updated
36th over: West Indies 119-2 (Brathwaite 58, S Hope 35) target 322 This’ll be Woakes’ last over, I shouldn’t wonder. He doesn’t look at all happy, and floats a fifth-stump half-volley that Brathwaite easily flicks through midwicket for four. But he finds something shortly afterwards, pushing one through that hits the seam, nips in, and beats Brathwaite who inside-edges onto his pad anyway.
35th over: West Indies 115-2 (Brathwaite 54, S Hope 35) target 322 Moeen into the attack; England will be relying on him to sort this, not always a circumstance in which he’s thrived. Brathwaite drives his third ball, and at silly mid on, Anderson dives to divert onto the stumps; Hope stood his ground, else he was gone, gone gone.
‘Whilst I can’t contemplate cheering on the opposition,” emails Neil Harris, “a part of me does wish a bloody nose on England. Imagine if we were 1-0 up going into the MCG test? Would England drop an in form player (TRJ) to get some miles into another players legs (Woakes) – I doubt it, and if on the 4th evening we found ourselves 320 runs to the good, do you think we’d even think for a second about declaring? – I very much doubt it. You should take every opponent seriously, and I feel we haven’t here.”
I don’t know about that. Woakes is better than Roland-Jones, so he was always having his place back. If England weren’t taking this seriously they’d have left out Anderson and Broad.
34th over: West Indies 114-2 (Brathwaite 53, S Hope 35) target 322 Mikey Holding is saying that Richie Richardson marked his card about Shai Hope, and he’s Whatsapped him to praise his recommendation. How do I get invited to that group? I want in, lads. Anyway, the aforementioned Hope spanks a drive for four through long off, and this is now a really handy start for West Indies ... and for us too, because things are shaping right up.
33rd over: West Indies 106-2 (Brathwaite 52, S Hope 28) target 322 If I was going to be called Craig, I’d definitely want it spelled Kraigg. Qureyg. Anyway, Hope drives Anderson to backward point for four, then edges four more through third man. If West Indies can stay in the win here is on; what an achievement that would be.
“In fact we could have two double centurions couldn’t we?” returns Paddy Sturdee. “Which would be nice. And make the Lord’s Test a tad more interesting, rather than just a final trial for who’s going to Australia.”
On which point, I wonder if Malan has now done enough, on the basis that England don’t have options; they can’t bring in someone new, and they can’t go back to GazBaz. Ok, they can. But f Westley fails again, perhaps they’ll move Root to three and brings Hales in; I don’t see that anyone is in with a shout apart from him or Hameed, as both have played Tests before.
32nd over: West Indies 97-2 (Brathwaite 52, S Hope 19) target 322 Brathwaite pulls through midwicket for three, raising a fine half-century - to bat well in these conditions, against this attack, under such scoreboard pressure requires major moxie and skill. Meanwhile, in commentary they note that Woakes’ pace is down this Test, perhaps to be expected after so long out. I’m sure he’ll get it back.
Updated
31st over: West Indies 91-2 (Brathwaite 49, S Hope 16) target 322 Anderson flies in at Hope and a jaffa, wobble seam, hitting the seam, swinging, extracts a bit of extra bounce while I wonder if those words make any kind of sentence. Either it’s far too good for the batsman, turning him around outside off as he tries to turn to leg, but the next delivery doesn’t move and is snapped to the boundary for four.
“Is it Brexit?” asks Tom Carver. “No, Brexit is an expression of our glorious sovereignty and a necessary disentanglement from foreigners before Britannia can once again rule the waves. But it might nonetheless be British. I’m English/Australian and have been ticked off by my wife for supporting the West Indies and Bangladesh in the current games. She is Belgian, and doesn’t understand why I wouldn’t want my teams to win… Something to do with underdogs and fair play etc.”
Yes, and the ability - the imperative, even - to love the history and personality of your opponents.
Updated
30th over: West Indies 87-2 (Brathwaite 49, S Hope 12) target 322 Woakes has the ball and after Hope takes a single, England relocate a slip to short leg for Brathwaite. Brathwaite likes French cricket, says Nasser, and on cue Woakes spirits one through him as he squares up trying to play late.
West Indies need 236 runs, England need eight wickets, it’s not going to rain, we’ve bare overs remaining, it’s dark, we’re wearing sunglasses, all four results are possible. Hit it!
Right then, the players are back with us and here we go.
Lunchtime email: “Through TMS, and probably elsewhere, we were told yesterday - amazingly - nobody has ever made a century in both innings at Headingley, not just in Tests but in all forms of first class cricket,” emails Paddy Sturdee. “What price Brathwaite changes that? I hope he does frankly, has played really well throughout and doesn’t deserve to be on the losing side.”
Me too. And if he does - if he can make it a daddy and add another 100 - West Indies might just pull this off. I hope they do, I suppose; is it Brexit to think to the contrary?
Afternoon all. What West Indies need here is some Gordon Greenidge at Lord’s 1984. By amazing coincidence and by way of some lunchtime reading, here’s an essay on that wondrous genius.
Well that was a pretty damn fine morning of Test cricket, all told – all three results are still possible, there was some decent disciplined batting, probing bowling, a freakish dismissal and another dismal drop. So there’s no real reason to do anything this afternoon other than join Daniel Harris for the next session. You can bother him here. Before I go, a couple more missives from you, the public: “Woakes is bowling too straight here. Not taking advantage of the movement off the pitch,” grumbles Matt Arnott on Twitter, while Ray Reardon wonders: “If Kraigg Brathwaite scores a hundred or even longer odds, carries his bat for the West Indies second innings, will we get a replication of Ian Bishop’s ‘remember the name’ acclamation after Carlos Braithwaite batted the West Indies to a T20 win over England?” We’ll find out soon enough. See you later. Bye.
Lunch: West Indies 86-2
29th over: West Indies 86-2 (Brathwaite 49, S Hope 11), target 322. Hope nudges one round the corner for a single off Moeen, who maintains his close legside-heavy field for Brathwaite. It’s good pressure. And that’s lunch.
Updated
28th over: West Indies 85-2 (Brathwaite 49, S Hope 10), target 322. Who would you make man of the match here? Much depends on events still ahead of us, of course, but there’s a hell of a lot of contenders, and Brathwaite must be in with a shout, even if West Indies lose. He can’t work anything off this Woakes over, however, which is fast and mainly true, and a maiden.
“Incredible that there was also a non striker run out in the Bang vs Aus game this morning,” marvels Matthew Wassell. “How rare they are and yet two on the same day!” Which prompts me to remind you all that Australia closed on 109-2 in pursuit of 265, with Warner still in and having scored a wapping 75 of them. Details here.
27th over: West Indies 85-2 (Brathwaite 49, S Hope 10), target 322. Review! Some smart Bairstow glovework from a Moeen left-to-right drifter prompts a stumping review against Brathwaite, but the batsman was in his ground. He then moves to 49 with a single through the offside.
26th over: West Indies 84-2 (Brathwaite 48, S Hope 10), target 322. Woakes yelps for an lbw after spearing one in at Hope’s pads but it hadn’t straightened enough to hit, and the appeal is rebuffed. Hope then plays a wonderfully smart improvised back-foot punch down the ground for four. Without forcing the issue, West Indies’ run rate looks in pretty healthy nick at the moment. They need another 238.
Updated
25th over: West Indies 79-2 (Brathwaite 48, S Hope 6), target 322. Brathwaite goes big, advancing a step and clubbing Moeen over long-on for four. Moeen has two catchers in close on the legside and one on the off for Brathwaite, who nonetheless can work him away for a single. The field is less close in for Hope, who adds another.
24th over: West Indies 73-2 (Brathwaite 43, S Hope 4), target 322. Broad’s long, excellent spell is brought to an end and Woakes replaces him at the Kirkstall Lane end. A couple of looseners, a couple on the money, a single to Hope and two leg-byes down to fine leg are its features.
Here’s the Kyle Hope run-out by the way.
What luck! Broad runs out Hope by deflecting the ball onto the stumps. LIVE: https://t.co/fj9iNi6t9u pic.twitter.com/x60o1SVRn4
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 29, 2017
23rd over: West Indies 70-2 (Brathwaite 43, S Hope 3), target 322. Hope’s off the mark at least with a neat three off Moeen, who then exercises his lungs with an exceedingly hopeful leg-before shout at an outside-the-line Brathwaite. “Do we need to enquire what you and Bob O’Hara were both smoking that you neglected to mention G A Gooch’s immortal second innings as the defining feature of the 1991 Headingley Test?!” insinuates Brian Withington. Not at all. I have bored enough people over the years with my dribblings on how Gooch’s 154 was the greatest innings I have ever seen live that I thought I’d lay off it today, for once.
Updated
22nd over: West Indies 67-2 (Brathwaite 43, S Hope 0), target 322. This is Broad’s best session of the match by some distance – he rips a proper ‘too good for thee lad’ snorter off the seam past Brathwaite’s outside edge but Brathwaite responds with a crunching straight drive down the ground for four. Ball of the day contender followed by shot of the day contender there. An easy two follows. Lots of fine cricket in that over.
21st over: West Indies 61-2 (Brathwaite 37, S Hope 0), target 322. Moeen has Hope scrambling defensively on the back foot with one that’s lower and quicker than anticipated before then finding turn and bounce outside off. He then has Hope outside-edging into Bairstow’s shins with another slightly quicker one. An excellent over. West Indies need to regroup a bit here.
“How about a link to today’s Big Paper centrefold, the pictures of Masai people playing cricket?” asks John Starbuck. “Not all OBO readers will have seen this, but the players are pretty dynamic and probably didn’t play in 1984 or 1991.” I would, of course, advise buying Big Paper itself to see it in all its glory but you can savour it here if you need.
20th over: West Indies 61-2 (Brathwaite 37, S Hope 0), target 322. A DROP and a WICKET in the same movement, then, with Broad spilling a chance off Brathwaite only to run out the luckless Hope at the other end. Broad continues to bowl excellently, inducing two edges from Brathwaite that both go for four past and then through the slips before he has to change bats. But in the circumstances Broad will be happy enough at the discomfort he continues to cause the batsmen.
So the pairing that underpinned West Indies’ fine first-innings effort is back at the crease, but with the momentum now firmly England’s.
Kyle Hope:
Updated
Wicket! K Hope run out 0, West Indies 53-2
What a way to go. Brathwaite drives at Broad, who spills the catch but parries it onto the stumps with Hope out of his ground at the non-striker’s end. Broad should have got Brathwaite, but he’s got his partner out instead, for nowt.
Updated
19th over: West Indies 53-1 (Brathwaite 29, K Hope 0), target 322. The first bowling change of the day sees Moeen on for Anderson. He finds a bit of zip and turn but Brathwaite deals with it all well enough, adding another single. “I was at the 1991 Headingley test (two days before my last finals exam),” writes Bob O’Hara, “and my impression is that the turning points were the innings of Pringle & Malcolm. At least they are who we were cheering on. Can’t remember who was at the other end at the time.” Have we ever met, Bob, or at least staggered past each other in the Original Oak or some such? These were more or less the circumstances in which I was there too (and if this reminisci-stuff wasn’t boring everyone before, it sure is now).
18th over: West Indies 52-1 (Brathwaite 28, K Hope 0), target 322. Brathwaite on-drives Broad for two, but the bowler’s still finding some nice new-ball bounce and zip, 18 overs in. He’s mixed up his lengths excellently this morning, but Brathwaite has largely been equal to it, and he snaffles a quick single to round off the over.
17th over: West Indies 49-1 (Brathwaite 25, K Hope 0), target 322. Brathwaite is subjected to an optimistic review for a slip catch, taken low in front of him by Westley, but replays show it bounced. He then drives cleanly for three to take us for drinks after an absorbing hour’s play. “Much as I loved Daffy,: trills Richard O’ Hagan as the OBO’s I Love 1984 series segues effortlessly/tediously into a 1991 edition, “I think you’ll find that it was Steve Watkin, on his Test debut, who ripped the heart out of the West Indies in that second innings.” Yeah, but as someone who was present for the last two days of that match, the psychological blow inflicted by De Freitas snaring Simmons first ball late on day four felt like the match-turner.
Review – not out! Brathwaite
Did Westley claim this before it bounced? Anderson has his arm aloft, but not quite in total conviction. Westley claims he scooped it up. The umpires send it upstairs, but the ball clearly did bounce and Brathwaite survives.
Updated
16th over: West Indies 46-1 (Brathwaite 22, K Hope 0), target 322. Brathwaite, looking settled now, adds a two and one off Broad, but the occasional ball is keeping low and just as I start to prepare a sentence about how these two are headed for the highest opening stand of the series, Powell drives to Stokes at second slip and gives Broad a deserved scalp.
Wicket! Powell c Stokes b Broad 23, West Indies 46-1
The slip catch for which Broad has been bowling finally arrives, Powell induced skilfully into the drive, which is edged to Stokes who catches comfortably.
Updated
15th over: West Indies 43-0 (Brathwaite 19, Powell 23), target 322. It’s not quite happening for Anderson this morning, particularly to Powell, to whom he switches to round the wicket but is then promptly dabbed behind square on the offside for four. “Is it tempting fate to ask which of the West Indies openers are going to be Mark Butcher (Headingly 2001),” asks Matthew Doherty. Or perhaps, which England bowler is going to be Phil DeFreitas (Headingley 1991, if I may invoke another of my all-time favourite sporting contests).
Updated
14th over: West Indies 39-0 (Brathwaite 19, Powell 19), target 322. Broad has been largely excellent this session, and he zips another beauty off the seam past Powell’s outside edge, but then concedes four when Powell square-drives expansively to the ropes off a fuller one. He then pushes through the same area for a single and Brathwaite adds another.
Some wise thoughts from Jonathan Fortune: “What’s odd about ‘particular demographic of English cricket fan that is an utter bore on the subject of West Indies’ all-conquering team of the mid-80s’ is that is ignores how brilliant they could be in the 1990s. The 1995 tourists were brilliant to watch and had enough to threaten any team in the world with Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper, Brian Lara, Jimmy Adams, Chiv Chanderpaul, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop. I will admit to being born in 1979, so I spent more time watching Ambrose and Walsh from behind the sofa than I did Holding, Garner, Marshall et al, but the West Indies have been in the upper echelons of Test cricket since the mid 1980s. When we talk of the demise of West Indian Test cricket, it seems as though its the 1990s generation of players that hasn’t consistently been replaced, not that of the 1980s.”
This is a very good point. West Indies also had some absolutely belting series against the dominant Australian team of the era during that decade. And even England’s eviscerations of them in 2004 felt like real achievements. The decline is perhaps more recent than we think.
Updated
13th over: West Indies 32-0 (Brathwaite 17, Powell 14), target 322. West Indies will be pleased to have got through the first half-hour, in trying circumstances, without losing a wicket. It’s not been easy for them. Brathwaite thick-edges past gully for four off an Anderson lifter and is then subject to a nagging lbw appeal that the bowler is keener on than his captain, who declines to review the not-out decision. Rightly, as he’d been struck outside the line. But Jimmy’s getting closer, leaving Brathwaite befuddled by one that keeps low outside off-stump. It’s fascinating stuff, this, of the sort that only the fourth innings and fifth day of a Test match can produce.
Updated
12th over: West Indies 28-0 (Brathwaite 13, Powell 14), target 322. Brathwaite produces the first properly emphatic attacking shot of the day, creaming Broad past mid-off for four. A quick, usefully strike-rotating, single follows, which gives Powell a chance to unfurl a rather lovely shot himself, a firm on-drive for four more off the sort of fullish delivery that Broad has been aiming at the left-hander, with four slips in. His comeback ball is high-class know, a tricky lifter past the outside-edge.
11th over: West Indies 19-0 (Brathwaite 8, Powell 10), target 322. Powell flicks another slightly awry legside delivery from Anderson down to the boundary for four, before Jimmy resets himself and slants some better, more challenging deliveries across him outside off-stump.
10th over: West Indies 15-0 (Brathwaite 8, Powell 6), target 322. The floodlights are on, adding to the seamer’s paradise vibe, but Brathwaite is largely untroubled, until he dabs and misses at a lovely teasing outswinger and is then DROPPED when the next one finds his outside-edge and flies to Cook at first slip who puts it down. What a Test this has been for drops (11 in all) – a lot of 50p fines will be being gathered in those dressing rooms.
More 1984 talk (sorry) from Neil Harris: “The wisden report from on the 2nd test at Lords in 1984 regarding the England declaration
‘England looked unlikely to capitalise on their handy lead when Fowler, Broad and Gower were quickly dismissed, but Lamb and Gatting joined in a stand full of fine strokes. It ended when Gatting, for the second time in the game, was subject to a sad aberration in padding up to a ball coming down the hill. After a rainy fourth morning, Lamb and Botham added 128 in 165 minutes, with the West Indian field-placing and bowling becoming unusually defensive. When Botham was dismissed, however, the innings inevitably lost its way, the more so when Lamb, with his eye well in, went off for bad light. There were 53 minutes left when he did so and England led by 328 with three wickets left. The runs that might have been scored that evening were not made on the last morning, Lamb being out straightaway, and West Indies were in by 11.30, chasing 342 to win in five and a half hours.’”
Updated
9th over: West Indies 11-0 (Brathwaite 4, Powell 7), target 322. Anderson, up the hill from the Rugby stand end, struggles a tad with his line at the left-handed Powell, sending a few too many harmlessly down legside. West Indies decline to score from it though.
8th over: West Indies 11-0 (Brathwaite 4, Powell 7), target 322. Broad’s first ball, round the wicket at Powell, is a beauty, full and moving off the seam, but it’s squirted past the slips for four. A quick single follows, but it’s a good over from Broad, who’s had an up-and-down kind of match – pace, bounce, movement, the works.
“I remember that West Indies Lords test from 1984,” writes Nick Parish, “although only dimly as I was 10 and it was the first series I followed in detail. Was that the one where for the first time in the entire series England were on top, only for Allan Lamb to accept an offer of bad light and go off when he had his foot on the West Indian throat? It looks from the scorecard as though it might be.” Possibly, though Lamb had a lot of credit in the bank that summer as he (and sometimes Graeme Fowler) were about the only England batsmen who managed to stand up to that terrific pace attack during the series. Though Botham too had a stormer in that particular Test at Lord’s, and was largely responsible for England’s four-day dominance thanks to his eight-wicket haul in the tourists’ first innings.
7th over: West Indies 6-0 (Brathwaite 4, Powell 2), target 322. Jimmy gets us going but, unlike on Sunday, neither of his first two deliveries of the day bring a wicket. But not for the want of trying, the first moves and bounces awkwardly away from the left-handed Powell, while the second is nudged off his hips by the opener for a single. And the third is jagged into Brathwaite’s pads and prompts an lbw appeal, spurned on height grounds. The rest of the over is bang on the money and Brathwaite can only see it out. A tasty tone-setter.
The players are making their way out …
Updated
Meanwhile, play is under way around the counties. And you can follow what’s going on with one-man county cricket encyclopedia Will Macpherson, who’s at The Oval, right here:
Updated
The Holder situation has summoned forth the OBO People’s Court in numbers, citing a number of contradictory precedents in case law. “How many demerit points did Ricky Ponting get after calling the crowd a bunch of f-ing c-s as he walked off in the 2005 T20?” thunders The Monk of Junk on the Twitters, while Tapan Pandya adds: If rabada before and holder is now given demerit points…. why was Mr. stokes only reprimanded and not docked demerit points? Somebody tell ICC to be consistent at least even in its idiocy.”
The start has been delayed to 11.15. Some light rain earlier has nudged the starting time back a quarter of an hour. Jimmy Anderson, closing on 500, will be licking his lips at these conditions – we have proper Headingley cloud cover, though Moeen Ali, who’s been England’s key final-day figure all summer, may well have a big say too. It was turning like a good’un at times yesterday.
Back to disciplinary matters, here’s Richard O’Hagan: “Has anyone noted that players in this game are being penalised for swearing by DAVID BOON? Talk about the pot calling the kettle...”
Updated
First email of the day: “Hi Tom.” Hi Neil Harris. “Just a thought on five-day Test cricket, if the chairman of Yorkshire had his way we wouldn’t be playing this game today. I wonder if he’d like to donate the gate/bar receipts that he’ll receive today to a worthwhile cause?”
Talking of the wisdom of authority figures, looks like the ICC have been clutching their collective pearls again …
Jason Holder has been given a demerit point for swearing after Powell dropped a catch !!!!!!!!!! What is this game coming too @ICC !!?????
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) August 29, 2017
Thank goodness for that. Because nothing will revitalise Test cricket across the globe and bring the crowds back like the reassuring knowledge that players out in the middle aren’t doing naughty swears that no one not out in the middle can even hear anyway. The game. Saved.
Some other things to read about before we start. Over in Dhaka, for example, we have a properly absorbing Test match going on, with Bangladesh inching to a lead of 250-plus over Australia in their second innings of the first Test. They’re currently 221 for 9 and Jonathan Howcroft can tell you much more about it, live, here.
Alternatively, you may want to, and in fact very much should want to, read this week’s Spin, in which Tanya Aldred exhorts the virtues of digging in with this paean to the game’s grinders and slow-and-steady run accumulators:
Preamble
There is a particular demographic of English cricket fan that is an utter bore on the subject of West Indies’ all-conquering team of the mid-80s, forever riffing nostalgically on their youthful awe at the fierce, compelling brilliance of Greenidge-Haines-Gomes-Richards-Lloyd-Dujon-Baptiste-Marshall-Harper-Garner-Holding (you think I had to look at any of that XI up? As if!), to the extent it must be profoundly tedious to contemporary West Indies cricketers and fans. I am one of those dullards, and I apologise. So, when faced with West Indies being set a tantalising last-day pursuit of 300+, we don’t think “well, this lot will have folded by the middle of the afternoon, this one’s in the bag”, but are instead transported back to this game, at Lord’s 33 years ago - an astonishing last day run chase at a time when the idea of scoring 300 on the last day, and one batsman alone making more than 200 of them, was the stuff of a madman’s dreams.
Nothing like Gordon Greenidge’s astonishing assault will happen today, but that’s not to say this will necessarily be an England procession. West Indies, mostly, batted with excellent judgment and application in their first innings – characteristics that rather went missing again in the field yesterday – but will have to find them again if they are to avoid defeat, or pull off an improbable win. The tourists will be kicking themselves, while England will be basking in the joys of having a team that can bat deep, that Moeen-Woakes partnership having the look of the match’s pivotal one, a match’s mood altered in barely a session’s worth of cricket.
We should rejoice too that, at last in this slightly anti-climactic summer of non-contests, we have a proper fifth-day finish (the Oval Test v South Africa doesn’t count, as probably only the earlier rain took that one into a final day), so don’t go anywhere else.
And permit us this one bit of nostalgia…
Updated
