Against all expectation England face the possibility of defeat in the second Test against West Indies after a superb 246-run partnership between Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope and some England bowling, which was, according to Jimmy Anderson, well below the standards they set themselves.
West Indies have a 71-run lead with five wickets in hand and Hope, 147 not out, reigns supreme.
“You can’t be inconsistent and win series and we have got a big one coming up in Australia,” Anderson said. “I thought we had started to resolve this problem this summer.”
The evidence of an exasperating sunny Saturday at Headingley suggests this is still a work in progress. “We are not worried but we are aware that it is still an issue,” said England’s senior bowler.
Having reduced West Indies to 35 for three England had to wait four and a half hours for their next wicket. “With the cloud cover and the floodlights on in the morning conditions were helpful but as the day went on we didn’t bowl well,” Anderson said. “We didn’t create pressure and we did not bowl in partnerships. There was always a release for the batsmen at one end. There were a lot of bad balls today.” Although not so many of them were bowled by Anderson, who finished a long stint in the field with three for 46 from 23 overs.
He added: “They batted brilliantly through the tough period and then they cashed in later on. The way they applied themselves is something our batsmen could learn from. But we did not put enough pressure on them, which is not like us. It is so frustrating that we did not bowl well as a group. Maybe we were chasing the game a bit after posting a low score. We were not patient enough. Especially when the sun came out we tried for too many magic balls rather than building up the pressure. We have all played enough here not to blame the hill at Headingley or anything else.”
Naturally Anderson has not written off his team. He has played enough cricket to know the game can be turned around even though that has not been the pattern of this summer’s Tests, when the dominant side of the first two days have sailed along to an emphatic victory. However he did acknowledge that the equation is becoming tricky. “If their lead is anything over 150 then it is a tough ask to turn it around. Under that and we are right back in the game.”
England have eight batsmen in their team but in this situation they will need a higher percentage of them to contribute in the second innings if they are going to extricate themselves.
