Steadily England have been seizing back the initiative in the first Test after a first-innings collapse against the second new ball had threatened to undermine the fine work of Ian Bell, Joe Root and Ben Stokes in resurrecting things from potential disaster. By the close on the second day the bowlers had winkled out four wickets for 155 as West Indies responded to England’s 399, one of the wickets to Jimmy Anderson taking him a step closer – he still needs three more – to overtaking Ian Botham’s record of 383 as the country’s highest Test wicket-taker.
It would have helped the cause further if Stokes, with the ball now, had not overstepped in inducing a slip catch from Jermaine Blackwood when on 21, something with which he has previous from before he had even taken a Test wicket. Blackwood was to finish the day unbeaten on 30 and a ring of steel round the England dressing room lockers, just to keep Stokes away from them, might have been in order.
Blackwood, not lacking confidence, had belted his second ball over long off for six, and looks to be the sort of fellow for whom the monumental patience of his batting partner would not come easily. But that mistake aside, he restrained himself admirably while still conveying an air of vulnerability. As ever, though, it seems England have to overcome the particular barrier that is Shivnarine Chanderpaul, for whom dynamite is normally required to remove from the crease, an area for which he is said to have a postcode and mailbox.
Chanderpaul will resume the third day on 29, from 98 balls, which, given that he is the only person, on three occasions, to have batted for more than 1,000 minutes in a series without being dismissed, means he has scarcely seen the shine off.
Given the Chanderpaul factor, England will chip away at the other end where there is a little less security.
England had generally bowled well, with control and some thought. Anderson had been allowed to precede the team on to the field in this his 100th Test – a nice touch – and his opening spell, from the end with a strong left to right breeze helping with the booming swing that is his default (against convention for a swing bowler) against left-handers, was challenging, bringing him the wicket of Devon Smith, one of three straightfoward catches for Jos Buttler.
It was his only success of the day, however, for it was Jordan who removed Darren Bravo, and Broad who cleverly did for Marlon Samuels for 33, a dismissal involving pegging him on the back foot and then pitching one up, a neat little genuine leg-cutter. It was a tactic that had all over it the fingerprints of Ottis Gibson, the former West Indies head coach but England’s bowling coach here, who would know the batsman’s game inside out. James Tredwell then took the further wicket of Kraigg Braithwaite, 39, thanks to a stunning slip catch by Jordan.
Given the expectation gained from the way in which Bell and Stokes set about the flagging West Indies bowling after tea on the first day, the manner in which the innings subsided from 341 for five overnight to 361 for nine was disappointing, a loss – including the late wicket of Bell the previous evening – of five for 20. There is some slight mitigation. Early morning showers had cleared in time for a prompt start, but the cloud still hung heavy over North Sound and the new ball – a Duke(the English brand used here since the start of Gibson’s coaching tenure here), only eight overs old at the start – reacts well to such conditions. The bowling too, which had been excellent on the opening morning, had a chance to regroup and come at England afresh: the bowlers responded well to the situation in which they found themselves.
So to expect Stokes to be able to play with the same degree of gusto was asking a lot. There was one sweetly-timed chop down to the third-man boundary, but he tried to repeat the stroke and was easily caught in the gully. For the great part of it though, his 79 had been exactly the right innings at the right time from a talented batsman capable of batting higher in the order than six. The team dynamic when Moeen Ali returns will be interesting, for Stokes has an outstanding century against Australia in Perth to his credit, while Moeen’s unbeaten hundred against Sri Lanka last summer almost saved a game that had long since been lost.
In fact the man to move down the order looks likely, on current form anyway, to be Buttler, who followed the nightwatchman Tredwell to the crease, struggled to make any headway whatsoever against 22 deliveries and then very tamely edged the 23rd behind. Of the noughts he has in his career, it is doubtful if any has been as drawn out or painful as this. Form though is a fickle thing, coming and going as it pleases, and Buttler, leaden-footed, looked bereft of it, his coordination out of kilter. Perhaps he could have recognised his dilemma and looked to take the initiative, but if a batsman is seeing the ball like a marble, that is not as easy as it sounds, and may have been no more productive as a result.
The last-wicket partnership stopped the rot, with Anderson smearing his third ball to the third man boundary and hitting a further four of them, including a textbook on-drive of which the real Lara, let alone this Burnley version, would have been proud, before a tame end as he poked Samuels’ off-spin gently to cover. Jordan remained unbeaten on 21.
