So a cracking day of cricket comes to an end. It’s advantage West Indies after those two late wickets so the game and the series is still very much up for grabs. Right, that’s it from me. Join us again tomorrow for more. Cheerio!
STUMPS
And that’s the final ball of the day. England end on 240-7.
WICKET! Cook c Ramdin b Samuels 105 (England 240-7)
Ramdin can’t resist throwing the ball to Marlon Samuels for one last twirl. Cook drives off the back foot for a couple BUT THEN HE’S GONE! No one can quite believe it – Cook, the bowler or Ramdin who took the catch. It was a dragged down bit of filth from Samuels but Cook feathered a bottom edge behind for a miserable end to the day.
89th over: England 238-6 (Cook 103, Buttler 0)
That out of the way, the close is the target now. Holder beats Buttler with the last but it’s a maiden.
Century for Cook!
88th over: England 238-6 (Cook 103, Buttler 0)
The field edges up to apply the pressure but Gabriel strays on to the pads and Cook is able to clip safely wide of midwicket for his 26th Test century and his first in very nearly two years. It has been a very fine knock, while wickets have been tumbling at the other end. A nice moment for the captain – and something England fans will be hoping to see a few more times this year.
100 for Cook and the sheer relief of it after 6 hours batting.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
I really hoped he had a 'Talk nah, Piers' sign in his pocket...
— George Dobell (@GeorgeDobell1) May 1, 2015
Updated
87th over: England 234-6 (Cook 99, Buttler 0)
Cook clips Holder into the leg for a single that takes him to 99. And he’ll be on strike to face Gabriel …
86th over: England 233-6 (Cook 98, Buttler 0)
Stokes is furious with himself. [INSERT OBLIGATORY ‘LOCKERS IN THE CHANGING ROOM START QUIVERING IN FEAR’ ZINGER HERE]
Stokes chops Gabriel into the slips. Got out that way before this series, trying to get the ball to third man. Eng now 233 for six, Cook 98
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
Updated
WICKET! Stokes c Hope b Gabriel 22 (England 233-6)
Three dots from Gabriel at Cook as the bowler looks to ratchet up the tension. From the fourth Cook flicks away to deep midwicket for a single … and from the final ball of the over, out of nowhere, Stokes has been caught at gully. He tried to chop a wide one away, but could only toe it to Hope.
85th over: England 232-5 (Cook 97, Stokes 22)
Cook blocks Holder away for a single to move to within three runs of his first century since Headingley in May 2013. There have been 35 innings for the England captain since. Again he’ll have the strike …
Updated
84th over: England 231-5 (Cook 96, Stokes 22)
Gabriel looks to test Cook with some short stuff but the England captain is all over it, thrashing him to square leg for four and, a couple of balls later, it takes a fine diving stop on the rope to deny him another boundary. He pinches a single from the last. Just four runs away now.
Meanwhile, Sky flash up the scorecard:
There’s something very satisfying about being “RUN OUT (HOPE)“. Like being caught behind by INDECISION or stumped by HUBRIS.
83rd over: England 223-5 (Cook 89, Stokes 22)
Stokes, who has just about settled now, crashes Holder over midwicket for four.
“John, be kind,” writes Simon Gandolfi. “I am a confused octogenarian supporter of Worcestershire. Please calm my anxiety. Did Ali hit the ball as the ECB post - or did Cook hit the ball as you post?” It was Cook’s shot and call. I’m sure it was just an innocent error from the ECB – they’ve since deleted the post.
82nd over: England 219-5 (Cook 89, Stokes 18)
West Indies need something to put a spring into their step …
… so here comes Shannon Gabriel. Cook pulls behind square to edge closer to the century mark. At his current run rate he’ll need around 29 balls to reach his ton, so he should get there by the close of play.
81st over: England 217-5 (Cook 88, Stokes 17)
The new ball is available … and after a bit of deliberation the West Indies opt to take it immediately. Ten overs are left in the day so this is should be a bit of a blast from Holder and Gabriel. Holder gets the first go with the new cherry. Stokes watchfully plays out five dots, then cleverly guides the last through the slip cordon for four.
“Barefoot?” chides Phil Sawyer. “That’s never going to happen. I’m with Charlie Brooker on that one.”
80th over: England 213-5 (Cook 88, Stokes 13)
Perhaps the final over before the new ball. There’s another slight run-out scare when Cook is a little slow in the acceleration – think Ford Focus rather than Ferrari Testarossa – but even with a direct hit from backward square leg he probably would’ve been fine. Better from Permaul, though.
79th over: England 211-5 (Cook 87, Stokes 12)
Stokes slaps Samuels away for a single from the first, and Cook does something very similar from the last.
78th over: England 209-5 (Cook 86, Stokes 11)
Permaul returns, presumably just for a couple of overs before the new ball is taken. Stokes clips through the leg side for a couple more, then flicks off the back foot for a single. The spinner strays to leg to allow Cook the simplest of boundaries down to backward square leg. Permaul has thus far been, in the lingua franca of the times, Very Average.
Updated
77th over: England 202-5 (Cook 82, Stokes 8)
Cook brings the 200 up for his team as Samuels continues into his 3,728th over of the day. A chop away for two more keeps things ticking over.
76th over: England 198-5 (Cook 78, Stokes 8)
Taylor finds the outside edge of Stokes’ bat but the ball flies through the gap between second slip and fourth slip. A yorker next up very nearly finds its way through. This is high-class old-ball bowling from Jerome Taylor. Cook pulls the penultimate ball away laconically for a single.
75th over: England 192-5 (Cook 77, Stokes 3)
You get the sense that Stokes quite fancies the big shot against Samuels. He tries to free his arms on a couple of occasions but can only mistime to fielders. That is until the last, which is pushed out to the cover boundary for a single.
74th over: England 191-5 (Cook 77, Stokes 2)
Taylor sends down five dots at Stokes but the batsmen swats away a single off the last, setting up another showdown with his friend Marlon.
“No slippers?” wonders Phil Sawyer. “John Starbuck doesn’t know what he’s missing. I, too, resisted slippers for many years. Then I bought myself a pair (classic tartan, none of that new-fangled moccasin nonsense). They have changed my life. There is nothing like getting your work shoes off and putting your slippers on for sheer relaxation. Incidentally, I sprained my foot recently and was given dispensation to wear my slippers at work while sat at my desk. I cannot recommend this experience highly enough (wearing slippers at work, not spraining your foot).” I’m very much a barefoot man myself. At home, that is. Not in the office.
73rd over: England 190-5 (Cook 77, Stokes 1)
Samuels trots in for his 23rd over of the day. Stokes – Moriarty to his Holmes, Superman to his Lex Luther, Baby With The One Eyebrow to his Maggie Simpson – takes a single to get off the mark.
Meanwhile, the ECB Twitter feed seem to be backing the captain over that run out …
Updated
72nd over: England 189-5 (Cook 77, Stokes 0)
It’s not quite Boycott and Randall in 1977, but if Cook wanted that century before he’ll be desperate for it now. Taylor adds to his consternation with a cracker that seams away and beats the outside edge of the England captain’s defensive poke.
“I remember in the film ‘It’ Pennywise the clown grew more strength the more you believed in him,” writes Tom Van Der Gucht. “If you didn’t believe in him, he would disappear, but the moment you thought about him, he would gain strength and be able to attack you. This gave me serious nightmares when I was a kid, laying in bed trying not to think about him in case it gave him power to appear, but by not thinking about him and trying to not think about him, I was thinking about him and Pennywise was getting more powerful, probably lurking in my wardrobe... Thinking about Cook scoring a century is a similar risk, you mustn’t think about it! The moment you do, it tempts the cricketing fates leading to his dismissal …”
71st over: England 189-5 (Cook 77, Stokes 0)
That was the only way West Indies were going to make a breakthrough.
Cook's transformation into Geoffrey nearing completion.
— The Old Batsman (@theoldbatsman) May 1, 2015
WICKET Ali run out 58 (England 189-5)
Alastair Cook has just run out Moeen Ali. The captain cuts firmly to backward point – straight to backward point – and calls his partner through for a single that simply isn’t there. Ali can barely get his legs moving in sync such is his surprise and he’s out by a distance when Ramdin collects and sweeps up the bails.
70th over: England 188-4 (Cook 77, Ali 57)
Taylor overpitches a touch to Cook, who frees his arms and drives sweetly away for two. The bowler prompts a false shot from the last with a full one floated up well wide of off stump, but Cook can’t make contact.
69th over: England 186-4 (Cook 75, Ali 57)
Samuels continues. Cook punches through the covers for one.
“I think pipe and slippers must be well on the way out as a cliche for comfort,” writes John Starbuck. “How many people smoke pipes these days? I gave up 20 years ago and I don’t have slippers either, I have driving shoes, trainers etc. For a reliable comfort metaphor, try what I’m drinking just now - malt whisky (Dalwhinnie in this case) or a fine brandy, such as Hennessy (which I do have in reserve if the game warrants it).”
68th over: England 185-4 (Cook 74, Ali 57)
A change at last. Jerome Taylor returns to the attack. The pace changes but the pattern of the match doesn’t – Taylor keeps things nice and full but Ali is deep into the groove now. It’s a maiden.
67th over: England 185-4 (Cook 74, Ali 57)
Samuels discomfits Ali briefly with one that beats the bat but that’s all the drama to be found this over.
Updated
66th over: England 184-4 (Cook 74, Ali 56)
Permaul continues, as does the general air of bemusement about this captaincy from Ramdin. The last is floated up as a tempter and Ali takes the bait but calmly, smoothly, guides through the covers for three. This pair are pipe-and-slippers comfortable at the moment.
65th over: England 178-4 (Cook 73, Ali 51)
There’s a song by Bon Iver-esque Icelandic troubadours Kaleo called All The Pretty Girls (yes, I know) in which the opening line is “All the pretty girls love Samuel”. Thanks to this series I can no longer here it without substituting: “All the pretty girls love Samuels …”
And Moeen Ali is loving Samuels at the moment. He clumps him away to cow corner to bring up his half century, only his second 50 in Test cricket.
Updated
64th over: England 171-4 (Cook 72, Ali 45)
Cook cuts Permaul away for four behind square on the off-side, a vintage piece of retro-Cook. If I was the sort of OBO writer unafraid of tempting Fate to wade into proceedings I’d say that a century is here for the taking here. But I’m not, so I won’t. The batsmen milk a few singles.
63rd over: England 164-4 (Cook 66, Ali 44)
Samuels is really taking some of the strain for his team here. After this one he’s gone through 18 overs. Just a single from it.
62nd over: England 163-4 (Cook 65, Ali 44)
It’s hard to see what Ramdin’s thinking is here, other than to give this pair a gentle reintroduction post-tea. Of course he has to manage the workloads of his fast bowlers in the Barbados heat but he does have three of them to rotate through. Permaul sends down another fairly flat set.
61st over: England 160-4 (Cook 64, Ali 43)
After the fourth ball of Samuels’ over Cook has faced 182 of the 364 balls sent down today – exactly 50%! That that is the highlight of the over tells you everything you need to know about it.
Updated
60th over: England 160-4 (Cook 64, Ali 43)
Ali pushes Permaul down the ground for a single. Cook pulls for another. Ali sweeps for another. I can’t really see these spinners causing England too many problems – surely time for a bit of pace?
Updated
59th over: England 157-4 (Cook 62, Ali 40)
Samuels again. He drags one down and Cook, looking very settled now, cuts for a single and Ali cuts straighter for three. This is now Moeen Ali’s third highest Test score, which feels a slightly odd stat.
58th over: England 153-4 (Cook 62, Ali 37)
Permaul continues at the other end. Another single for Cook from the first ball of the over.
There is a man out now upwind Mo. So you don't slog-sweep you hear?
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
Ali keeps his powder dry here – another five dots to end the over.
57th over: England 152-4 (Cook 61, Ali 37)
An odd (to say the least) decision from Dinesh Ramdin – Marlon Samuels will bowl the first over after tea. He finds some turn, but not threat. Cook dinks a single away off the first and Ali plays out the rest.
TEA
England 151-4. England’s session all-in-all. See you in 15.
56th over: England 151-4 (Cook 60, Ali 37)
Permaul rattles through the final over before tea. Cook thick-edges one through the vacant gully region for a single and that’s yer lot.
55th over: England 150-4 (Cook 59, Ali 37)
Gabriel gets a rare look at Moeen Ali, who greets him by unfurling a stunning cover drive, played on the up, for four – the sort of shot that could keep you warm on cold winter evenings. Gabriel responds with a bit of chin music, going back over the wicket and looking to fizz a couple up into the ribcage. The second attempt is too far down the leg and Ali manages to pull very fine for four that takes England to the 150 mark. The bowler responds with one pitched up and slanting across, Ali’s feet are stuck but he has a waft. A terrific battle of an over that.
Updated
54th over: England 142-4 (Cook 59, Ali 29)
Permaul (11-1-55-1) continues with tea 10 minutes away. He’s got quite an extroverted action, featuring a wide-armed near-spasm on the step before his delivery stride. A clip to leg from Cook brings him two more and takes this pair to a 50 partnership. It’s been a very useful bit of ship-steadying.
53rd over: England 140-4 (Cook 57, Ali 29)
Ali looks to take a quick single as Cook bunts the first ball of Gabriel’s first over into the offside. A deafening “NOOO!” from the England captain stops his batting partner in his tracks and he has plenty of time to get back to the non-striker’s end.
It’s another very fine over from Gabriel, who is giving Cook absolutely nothing to hit and keeping him very much on the front foot. The last is a little too full, a little too leg-side and whipped away for a single.
52nd over: England 139-4 (Cook 56, Ali 29)
Veerasammy Permaul returns to the fray. He was a bit of a fruit machine earlier, but he paid out once – the wicket of Joe Root. Ali takes one ball to have a look then slog-sweeps the second for a one-bounce four down to cow corner. And he repeats the trick from the last ball of the over. England have taken a bit of a liking to the spinner so far.
51st over: England 131-4 (Cook 56, Ali 21)
Gabriel continues round the wicket to Cook and keeps things very full. A maiden.
50th over: England 131-4 (Cook 56, Ali 21)
Holder returns round the wicket to Ali, who is just looking a touch becalmed. Though from the fifth ball of the over he breaks the shackles with a glorious full-fat double-chocolate triple-caramel drive through the off-side for four more.
49th over: England 127-4 (Cook 56, Ali 17)
Ian Bishop gets his wish – Shannon Gabriel enters the attack. He’s been the quickest bowler so far today but a loosener is whipped emphatically away through square leg by Alastair Cook for four. An attempted yorker next up is dug out for a single. From the last there’s a huge appeal because there’s a distinct noise as ball passes bat. Nothing from the umpire, and they opt quite rightly not to appeal. Looked like it may have flicked the thigh pad on the way through to Ramdin.
Updated
48th over: England 121-4 (Cook 51, Ali 16)
Holder draws a play-and-miss from Ali, slanting one across the left-hander from over the wicket. Moeen nibbles and is relieved to see ball zip past edge. A maiden.
“Any reason why Moeen was sent ahead of Stokes, John?” wonders Krishnan Patel. “I heard Fabrace bigging up Stokes as a batsman before the game. What better situation to prove your worth as a batsman than with your side in a bit of bother? Any connection to Samuels bowling at the other end while the wicket fell?” I’ve not seen or heard any theories, though I wouldn’t have thought it was an on-the-hoof decision just because of the match situation. That’s simply not the modus operandi of this England side so you’d imagine it was a call made pre-match. The reason? I’m not really sure.
47th over: England 121-4 (Cook 51, Ali 16)
On commentary Ian Bishop wants Shannon Gabriel back into the attack, but it’s Marlon Samuels who continues. Alastair Cook goes to his 50 with a guide down to third man for a couple. It’s his sixth half-century in nine Test match innings, though his conversion rate is, as we all know, zip, zero, nada. He’s batted really well (if slowly) today – it’s been a bit of a reminder of just how good he can be. “Can be” is hopefully the correct end of that sentence, rather than “was”.
Updated
46th over: England 119-4 (Cook 49, Ali 16)
Jason Holder offers up Ali something of a half-volley and the England No6 gleefully tucks in, stroking sumptuously through the covers for four.
45th over: England 115-4 (Cook 49, Ali 12)
Hello everyone. What a fine day’s cricket it has been so far. Marlon Samuels – with his approach to the popping crease that resembles a man who has been running for the bus but has slowed down on realisation that he’s going to make it easily and now doesn’t want to look daft in front of the other passengers – sends down six dots at Alastair Cook, the last of which causes a moment of panic for the England captain, who has to bring down his bat quickly to keep it out.
44th over: England 115-4 (Cook 49, Ali 12)
Cook edges a tiny pigeon step closer to his half-century with a single off Holder’s first delivery. Ali, who has scored two fours and then four runs from the other 43 non-boundary-struck deliveries he’s faced, leaves the remaining five well alone. And with that the players take drinks, and I pass the OBO baton to John Ashdown – all emails to john.ashdown@theguardian.com from now on, if you’d be so kind.
43rd over: England 114-4 (Cook 48, Ali 12)
Reprieved, Ali sends the very next delivery hooting to third man, where it’s fielded just before the rope, and runs a couple.
No he isn't!
The ball hit the pad outside the line of off stump, and even if the review had survived that, Hawkeye had the ball barely tickling said stump. So either way, he’s not out.
Is Moeen Ali out here?
A brief appeal, a quick shake of the head – but the West Indies have reviewed it!
42nd over: England 112-4 (Cook 48, Ali 10)
Holder returns. The over ends with a shortish, wide delivery that Cook smacks straight to the fielder at point, when really he should have been scoring runs. “Am I the only one who cursed the fact that cricket seems to be the only ball-playing team sport that does not permit tactical substitutions, after Trotty got out?” asks Martin Laidler. “It would be nice if Adam Lyth could now hear the words ‘Warm up Adam, you’re on in the second innings.’” Substitutions, I fear, might just make cricket too confusing for the world to accept.
41st over: England 112-4 (Cook 48, Ali 10)
The spinners are getting a lot of encouragement from this pitch. Samuels gets one to turn a long way, kicking up a tiny cloud of dust as it burst off the surface, and whizz safely but impressively past Ali’s bat.
40th over: England 111-4 (Cook 47, Ali 10)
Permaul bowls to Ali, with a short leg, a leg slip and a slip in place (there’s been a short leg around whenever Cook’s been batting against spin this morning, but Ali’s getting a bit of extra crowding). He doesn’t seem very bothered, but neither does he score any runs.
39th over: England 110-4 (Cook 46, Ali 10)
A Samuels maiden to Ali. I have little to say about this over, except that it was brief.
Updated
38th over: England 110-4 (Cook 46, Ali 10)
Cook tries to sweep but top-edges. He hit it hard enough to get away with it, but still, he won’t have enjoyed it. A moment later he tries, and nails, a near-identical shot and gets four for it. “I’ve just poured a festive and richly-deserved glass of chilled, powder-dry white here in Arles,” boasts Robert Wilson, “but now I’m thinking of pouring it down the sink. You seem to be some way ahead of my (completely paid-up and entirely legal!) streaming! How is this possible? Is this because of that slightly creepy time-dilation story you told in over 13? Or are you writing from the actual future? Could you please stop. It’s making me feel weird.”
37th over: England 103-4 (Cook 40, Ali 9)
Another Samuels maiden. I missed most of it while I wrote about over 36, if truth be told.
36th over: England 103-4 (Cook 40, Ali 9)
Ali smacks Permaul’s final delivery over mid on, who might not have reached it even if he’d seen it and actually moved, to score four and take England’s tally into treble figures. The other great benefit of the double-sin approach, other than the “catch it” business, is that it gives the West Indies a chance to make up for the dismal morning over rate. “So what’s the lowest score for an opener who bats all innings?” wonders Stuart Morphet. “Could cook be on for a record here as the wickets tumble around him?” Nope.
35th over: England 98-4 (Cook 39, Ali 5)
A maiden from Samuels. Well this makes sense:
Rashid and Wood added to ODi squad v Ireland
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
34th over: England 98-4 (Cook 39, Ali 5)
One thing I particularly enjoy about spinners, is hearing fielders shout “catch it!” when there is absolutely no prospect, none whatsoever, of the ball being caught. Just saying “catch it!” because it’s ideally what they’d like to see happen, rather than because there is any genuine chance of it actually happening. It’s like shouting “get in the hole!” when a golfer tees off on a par-five. Anyway, Ali gets off the mark by shuffling the ball – another Permaul full toss – through cover for four.
33rd over: England 92-4 (Cook 38, Ali 0)
Double spin, with Samuels replacing Taylor. “I’m a bit worried about that smack of the limps,” writes Nicholas Burton, of my 30th-over typo, which I could have just edited into oblivion but I guess I’ll have to leave in now. “I hope its not as painful as it sounds.”
32nd over: England 91-4 (Cook 37, Ali 0)
There’s a loud lbw appeal against Moeen Ali, second ball, but the umpire is unmoved and there’s no review.
Root, trying to force off the back foot, is caught at the wicket off Permaul for 33. Eng now 91 for 4
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
WICKET! Root c Ramdin b Permaul 33 (England 91-4)
Root tries to push the ball to point, gets the slightest of edges and the ball flies straight into Ramdin’s gloves, prematurely curtailing a lovely, fluent but insufficiently lengthy innings.
Updated
31st over: England 91-3 (Cook 37, Root 33)
Taylor gets warned for running on the pitch. It could be his second, if an earlier talking-to turns out to have been a full-fledged warning, but then I suppose it could also be a second talking-to. And then … eeeek! … Cook bottom-edges the final delivery into the ground, past Ramdin and away for four. It missed the stumps by a distance, to be fair.
@Simon_Burnton Not sure which despairs me most: WI's slow over rate, uni dissertation, or the realisation it'll be a long season for Kent
— Grubby Knees (@MisterInky) May 1, 2015
Three truly vexing things, Mr Knees. It’s no surprise you’re confused.
Updated
30th over: England 87-3 (Cook 33, Root 33)
Permaul starts his over with a full toss, which Root thumps to deep midwicket with a smack of the limps. Another one follows a couple of balls later, and is despatched to square leg. Two bad deliveries, appropriately punished. The two batsmen are tied on 33 runs apiece, Cook’s from 98 deliveries, Root’s from 31.
29th over: England 77-3 (Cook 32, Root 24)
In the middle of the over, Cook arm-wavingly instructs someone to “go get that orange” that’s “just wandering” in his line of sight. Either we missed a word, blown away from the stump mic by the breeze, or he’s just seen a walking citrus.
28th over: England 77-3 (Cook 32, Root 24)
Permaul bowls, and the batsmen take a single each. “Prediction: England to get bowled out today,” suggests Steve Anthony, “but a fighting ton for a batsman with a four-letter name that contains two “o”s... there’s hedging :0)” Rare OBO appearance from an emoticon there.
27th over: England 75-3 (Cook 31, Root 23)
Taylor, the least impressive of the three quicks today, gets the afternoon show on the road from the other end. Root grabs a couple from the first delivery and a single from the last, and is otherwise most troubled by a yorker which, while being a pretty decent delivery, doesn’t really trouble him very much.
26th over: England 72-3 (Cook 31, Root 20)
Permaul starts us off, and Root grabs a single. “I’ve just returned home having celebrated Vappu here in Finland to be greeted by the doleful news about Ben E King,” writes Paul Ewart. “It brought back memories of The Floral Hall in Southport, also no longer with us, which served as a slightly odd mecca for ageing soul stars: a kind of St Peter’s waiting room for the venerable. I saw Ben E King with what must have been about the 50th version of The Drifters in the early 90s. He was wonderful. But if you are going to play a song for Jonathan Trott, I’m afraid it has to be this one.”
The players are back out. Onwards and upwards we go. Sky’s lunchtime analysis ends with Nasser Hussain concluding that “it’s time we moved on from Trotty”, which seems to be the very widespread conclusion.
LUNCH: England 71-3
West Indies end an intriguing opening session with a spring in their collective step. Jonathan Trott was out for a third-ball duck, Ian Bell for a fifth-ball duck, and between them Ballance was brilliantly bowled by Holder for 18.
Cook fine glances last ball before lunch for 4. A really good session of tough Test cricket, with Eng 71-3, Cook 31 Root 19.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
25th over: England 71-3 (Cook 31, Root 19)
Taylor sees us through to lunch, and Cook’s happy not to do any unnecessary run-scoring. But then the sixth delivery is no-balled, and the last is an attempted yorker that’s heading down leg side anyway, so he flicks it a little further and it disappears for four.
Updated
24th over: England 66-3 (Cook 27, Root 19)
Permaul yields 10 runs to Root including two boundaries, a firm sweep and a thump through midwicket. “For me Simon, that bounced off the fingers,” writes Krishnan Patel of that chance off Cook at short leg. “I’m highly surprised at Athers’ conviction about that bouncing off the ground. I think the way they appealed mutedly cost West Indies the wicket of the English captain. You can be sure that Warne or McGrath would have started celebrating and bullied the umpire into a decision.” Certainly the body language was very downbeat, but the final replay, zoomed in as best they could on the fielder’s hands, which were largely obscured by the batsman’s legs, seemed to show the ball bouncing up off the fingers, but if the players don’t think it’s out, the commentators don’t think it’s out and the umpires don’t think it’s out, it’s probably not out.
23rd over: England 56-3 (Cook 27, Root 9)
Taylor returns, and he sends the ball across Cook and so close to the bat that the man at slip actually dived for the catch. Literally, flung himself to his left to take a totally non-existent chance. “Weird happening here, too,” writes Stephen Davenport in Indianapolis. “On a late evening walk with the dog I came across a fellow with a spade in the park, energetically digging. I watched for a while and he returned to his van from which he dragged a plastic-wrapped package - about the size of a small child – which he carried back across the field and dumped into his hole. I was about to nervously call the cops, when I recognized him as our neighbour. So instead I called home for some wifely advice. ‘He has a cat,’ my wise spouse reminded me. ‘I expect it died.’ Which seemed fair enough. Mind you, he is one those neighbours who ‘just keeps himself to himself’.
“Two days later there was a face at his window. It was his cat.”
22nd over: England 56-3 (Cook 27, Root 9)
Permaul bowls, and he’s that close to getting Cook out, the England captain turning the ball limply straight into the hands of the man at short leg. It bounced, in all likelihood, just before it went into the fielder’s hands – the TV umpire, Steve Davis, needs several replays to decide he can’t be sure it was out – but it seems a weird thing to do anyway, what with there being a man at short leg waiting for precisely that shot. The next ball is sent in a similar direction, only much, much harder and entirely along the ground, swept away for four.
21st over: England 51-3 (Cook 22, Root 9)
I mentioned a couple of overs ago the similarity between this session and the first of the series. The key difference between them though is that the first featured a rain delay. This one has just had an extremely slow over rate.
20th over: England 47-3 (Cook 21, Root 6)
Holder bowls onto Root’s pads, and he flicks the ball through midwicket for four. “Alternatively,” writes John Starbuck about the ice-rink twins, “if this were Discworld, you’d have the History Monks going around patching things up. What’s more, they’ll crack a joke about too.” Yes, they sound much more friendly, and altogether less likely to feast on innocents.
19th over: England 40-3 (Cook 19, Root 1)
The batsmen grab a single each from Samuels’ over. “An example of good team selection is Australia,” writes Harvey Lock. “They have a huge number of players that they pick and choose from, all of which get regular games and for each match as they have a number of choices that would equally well fit the bill. If players were regularly chopped and changed then those that miss out on a particular game wouldn’t get such a confidence knock, as they know that its all part of the routine.” That’s precisely what we (and everyone) should aim for, I think.
18th over: England 38-3 (Cook 18, Root 0)
This is not the position the side that wins the toss is expecting to be in before lunchtime. As I recall England were 49-3 at lunch on day one in the first Test of this series, after 25 overs. They’d probably take that now …
@Simon_Burnton You think that ice skating thing is bad, when I look at my son, I see me and when I look in the mirror, I see my father.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) May 1, 2015
WICKET! Bell c & b Holder 0 (England 38-3)
That’s just a horribly mistimed shot, limply nudging the ball right back to the bowler, and Bell’s gone too!
Updated
17th over: England 38-2 (Cook 17, Bell 0)
A maiden from Samuels. “Re – 13th over – this is what happened in Dr Who when Rose Tyler ended up with her (baby) younger self in the same church, when The Doctor helped her go back in time to meet her dad,” notes Tim Sanders. “It created a wound in time and these monsters came to fix it. It sounds like you were very, very lucky at that ice rink.”
Crikey, I’ve just looked up the monsters involved:
Reapers are multi-limbed, flying creatures similar to pterosaurs, with a large wingspan, sharp teeth both in the form of a beak and a secondary mouth in their torsos, coupled with a rapacious attitude. The Reapers are apparently extradimensional, materializing and dematerializing out of the space-time vortex. They are attracted to temporal paradoxes that damage time, like bacteria swarming around a wound. They then proceed to “sterilize” the wound by consuming everyone in sight.
16th over: England 38-2 (Cook 17, Bell 0)
There’s something very pleasing about seeing middle stump get cleanly and smoothly ripped out of the ground. There’s not enough of it these days (there wasn’t in those days either, really). The ball in question seemed to gather speed the further it got from the bowler, and swung for good measure. An absolute peach.
Ballance beaten by pace and movement of Holder and loses middle stump. Good tough cricket this, Eng 38-2
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
WICKET! Ballance b Holder 18 (England 38-2)
Ballance survives an lbw appeal (rightly, it was going way down leg), but then the next ball straightens and demolishes middle stump!
Updated
15th over: England 37-1 (Cook 17, Ballance 18)
Ballance’s first boundary, as he smacks Samuels’ opening delivery past point for four. He must have enjoyed it, as a moment later he smacks one over midwicket for six with some violence.
@Simon_Burnton I like continuity in selection, but if a player has a specific problem, the place to work that out is county cricket.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) May 1, 2015
I just don’t think a sense of permanence works in team sport. I feel the same about the England captaincy in football, which should surely be awarded on a match-by-match basis, or at the very least a seasonal basis, to whoever’s the key man at the time, but instead is handed to someone like a life peerage, not to be taken away until he’s totally decrepit and ruined.
14th over: England 27-1 (Cook 17, Ballance 8)
Holder bowls, and Cook crunches the ball past point for four.
13th over: England 23-1 (Cook 13, Ballance 8)
Samuels bowls, and gets a little bit of turn. Cook snaffles a single first ball. So this weird thing happened to me the other day. I took my daughter ice skating on Sunday, and also on the ice when I arrived was a youngish, trim chap with short ginger hair and a goatee, perhaps in his early 20s, who was wearing an olive-green hoody. About 10 minutes later another guy arrived with his daughter. He also had short ginger hair and a goatee, was also wearing an olive-green hoody, and generally looked uncannily similar to Bloke One, except he was a bit podgy and in his early 40s. It was quite crowded, as it often is at weekends, and so round and round the rink they went, this young bloke oblivious throughout that his older self was right there on the ice with him. It totally messed with my mind, really it did.
12th over: England 22-1 (Cook 12, Ballance 8)
Ballance works the final ball of Holder’s over past point for a couple, and he’s immediately rewarded with some drinks. “Couldn’t agree more with Robert Wilson (over seven). I’m surprised this hasn’t been brought up more, I remember it vividly,” says Toby Sims. “Trott was scoring like it was no effort at all, then just looking confused when he got out. I think Rob’s onto something with the over-correction – maybe he should have just embraced being more flamboyant. Ironically it probably would have fit better in these ‘modern’ times.”§
Updated
11th over: England 20-1 (Cook 12, Ballance 6)
Marlon Samuels brings some spin to proceedings, and like Holder his first over yields nowt but a Ballance single. “It isn’t going to happen, given the dogmatism of the current set-up, but it would be nice to see Trott given a final, final chance in the third innings by swapping with Ballance,” suggests John Starbuck. “Maybe it’s all down to a psychological difficulty with opening per se?” Well I suppose it couldn’t exactly hurt, and as another emailer points out (hat-tip Alex Henderson), Ballance has “essentially been opening four of the past five innings anyway”.
10th over: England 19-1 (Cook 12, Ballance 5)
Jason Holder replaces Gabriel, and he starts with a pretty unthreatening over from which Ballance scores a single and Cook leaves a few.
Updated
9th over: England 18-1 (Cook 12, Ballance 4)
Cook’s clearly happy just to survive this opening hour or two and hope that he or others will be able to have more fun once the ball is less zippy and swervy, as I believe they say in the trade.
8th over: England 18-1 (Cook 12, Ballance 4)
A single each from Gabriel’s fourth over, the last delivery of which swings away from Ballance, who plays and misses. Meanwhile, there’s great use of the backing singers here from Ben E King. I’d like to dedicate this song, a little cruelly, to Jonathan Trott.
7th over: England 16-1 (Cook 11, Ballance 3)
Ooof! Taylor boals to Cook, the ball flies just past the bat and into Ramdin’s gloves. Was there a slight edge there? There was a muted appeal – muted mainly because by the time the cry rose in the fielders’ throats the umpire was signalling a no ball. A little later, a lovely pull from Cook, who reads the line well, takes a step towards the ball and thwacks it to cow corner for four, a very handsome shot indeed.
“I absolutely ache for Trott,” writes Robert Wilson. “I’m not at all sure it’s a question of courage. The weird thing is that in the last Ashes in England, before his sweaty, heart-stopping descent to hell began, he had this run of lovely, untypical thirties and forties when he was seeing it like a football and was much more fluent and dashing than ever before. I’ve always rather suspected that he suffered the accumulator’s regret at getting out to his own flamboyance. The over-correction was massive. And fatal.”
Trott's first 19 Tests: average 66, 6 hundreds. Trott's last 33 Tests: average 34, 3 hundreds.
— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) May 1, 2015
6th over: England 9-1 (Cook 5, Ballance 3)
Cook gets a single from Gabriel’s first delivery, and Ballance two from his last. “There needs to be a new German word for the mixture of feelings Trott’s dismissal arouses,” suggests Tim Sanders. “It’s nice to think Adam Lyth might get a chance, it’s horrible to see him get out like that, it’s a sort of Schadenfreudeschmerz.” I’m sure there already is a German word for it. They have a word, or at least a combination of words, for everything.
In other news, Ben E King has died. Don’t play this song. It brings back memories (mainly because it basically has the same baseline as Stand By Me).
5th over: England 6-1 (Cook 4, Ballance 1)
Good, hostile, fast bowling here, though none of it is threatening the stumps. Maiden over from Taylor. “I agree with James Evans (over one) about a closed shop,” writes Gareth Fitzgerald. “What happens if at some point during the Ashes England, either through injury or poor form, need to explore a back-up option, and Rashid or Lyth or suchlike end up getting Kerrigan/Borthwick/Rankined into the team for a career-destroying mauling? This series would have been ideal for looking at what certain players could do, until a muppet chairman put the pressure on with his easy win comments encouraging them to play safe. Again.” Sometimes any team needs games where the process is more important than the result. England seem always in fear of a bad result (mainly because of the pressure us media types put them under, I suppose).
4th over: England 6-1 (Cook 4, Ballance 1)
Oooh! Taylor’s final delivery flies across Cook, just past the bat and away to safety, a very uncomfortable moment for the England captain, who really should have left it well alone. “Breeze a little more than gentle I’d say,” Mike Selvey reports from Barbados. “NE Trades are pretty steady. It was England’s use of it that played a big part in them winning the World T20 here. Wind blows broadly from right to left as I am looking out, and England strategy was to only hit aerially downwind to one side but to try and make opposition hit into it. What can happen if you do was no better illustrated than the Stokes dismissal that was a prelude to Marlon Samuels’ brilliant send-off. Schoolboy error in hitting straight into the teeth of it.”
3rd over: England 5-1 (Cook 4, Ballance 0)
Runs! Taylor sends one rising into Cook’s chest, and he pulls it past square leg for four. Here are two related Trottstats, one of which looks bad, the other looks worse.
Trott bags another duck. 4th England opener to get three ducks in a series. Commentated by the previous England opener to do so (Atherton)
— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) May 1, 2015
3 - Jonathan Trott is the first England opener to record three ducks in a Test series of three Tests or fewer. Trio.
— OptaJim (@OptaJim) May 1, 2015
Updated
2nd over: England 0-1 (Cook 0, Ballance 0)
Really, the West Indies may not be the best place to take a bouncerphobic batsman attempting to make a comeback. It was a fine bouncer, though, right into the chest, that did for him. Let it stop now.
We have just seen the defining moment that unquestionably has ended Jonathan Trott's estimable Test career. The angel Gabriel.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
In truth, Shannon Gabriel may have done Trott a kindness. Seriously.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
WICKET! Trott c Permaul b Gabriel 0 (England 0-1)
Well that’s just horrible! The ball’s bowled fast and short right into Trott, who fends it off with the shoulder of his bat and straight to Permaul at short midwicket, who runs in to take a low catch, diving forward. Falls again to the short ball.
Oh God. Trotty. That was just so so horrible. Hate saying told you so. Bounced out by Gabriel. Please just let him go.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
Updated
1st over: England 0-0 (Cook 0, Trott 0)
Taylor bowls the first over of the day, and Cook leaves the first three, and defends one, and then leaves the next couple for good measure. “I applaud consistent selection, but at what point does it start to become a closed shop?” asks James Evans. “Trott and Broad are living off of past glories. Pretty disheartening for Plunkett, who was injured rather than dropped, and Lyth, who can’t shift an out-of-form non-opening batsman.” I kind of agree: if you changed the team more frequently it wouldn’t be such a big deal when you changed the team. And it might have the added benefit of encouraging people you want to encourage.
First impression is that new ball is going through at good pace. And swing for Taylor
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
The players are out and ready for action. Let’s play cricket*!
* not actually us, obviously.
Jonathan Trott’s last six Test innings: 10, 9, 0, 4, 59, 0. Has hasn’t scored a century for 22 innings. His batting average in 40 matches up to that century was 50.60. His average in 12 matches since is 29. He needs a big score today, really.
The following tweet contains at least two interesting facts about Shai Hope, which isn’t bad going for 140 characters.
Shai Hope's a good player. Patient, elegant. Went to St Bede's school - Sussex - on scholarship. Coached by Alan Wells. Will play many Tests
— George Dobell (@GeorgeDobell1) May 1, 2015
Further details of the West Indies side and their three changes. They’ve got Shai Hope. In full: Brathwaite, Hope, Bravo, Samuels, Chanderpaul, Blackwood, Ramdin (c), Holder, Taylor, Gabriel, Permaul.
Ah there we are then. 3 windies changes :jerome taylor for kemar roach; veersammy permaul for bishoo; 21 yr old Shai Hope for Devon Smith.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
#WIvENG West Indies make three changes. Hope, Permaul & Taylor in for Smith, Bishoo & Roach: http://t.co/pS1fQjlqwT pic.twitter.com/dS9H4qJ65R
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) May 1, 2015
Updated
Beautiful blue skies and a gentle breeze in Barbados today. “It looks a real flat old surface to me,” says Mike Atherton.
England: Cook, Trott, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali, Stokes, Buttler, Jordan, Broad, Anderson #WIvEng pic.twitter.com/JdZWVZmVB8
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) May 1, 2015
“Hopefully we can put on a good show and win the series,” says Alastair Cook. “It’d be nice for everybody to get runs. Obviously we can’t look too far ahead. We’ll try to get through the first hour, when I think it might swing a bit here.”
“I’d probably have batted first, but there’s still a bit of moisture here, so we’ll try to make use of the first hour, hour and a half,” says Denesh Ramdin.
West Indies make three changes. Full teams to come.
England win the toss
And will bat first. “A bit of water made it a bit tacky, but we think it’s dry underneath.” Stokes has passed a fitness test, and England name an unchanged side.
Selve is at the ground, which is expecting a full house today. When all the seats are full they’ll start putting people in swimming pools. You’ve got to love a stadium with a Party Stand.
Never seen pitch marked with white line down each side . presumably bowler wided if outside pic.twitter.com/HgwWYxUIza
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) May 1, 2015
Hello world!
And so here England are, on the brink of another series victory, world cowering before them in awestruck inferiority like so many anxious Egyptian squirrels at the foot of the Great Acorn of Sekmet, before that most ancient wonder, hand-hewn by a thousand slaves from apatite freshly mined in foothills of the looming mountains of Heptapolis, tragically rolled into the Red Sea and transmogrified into coral and sharks and a few empty crisp packets. Is there nothing they cannot achieve? No peak they cannot ascend? Is no mortable capable of denting their immense, granitic awesomeness?
Sorry, it appears I forgot to take my medicine this morning. It’s alright nurse, I’ve calmed down now.
West Indies are, as we were told by ECB henchman Colin Graves before the England side even flew out, “a mediocre team” whose real stars are “playing in the IPL anyway”. But you can only beat the team in front of you, and England have done just that, once, and not by much, in two Tests so far, while to be fair looking the better side for most of both games.
We’ve been told to expect more pace and bounce from the pitch, and lordy knows the bowlers could do with a bit of a hand. It is, in brief, all terribly exciting. Welcome!
