- Latest updates and score from the first Test
- Buttler: West Indies have given England a reality check
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Related: Rory Burns excels but falls short of maiden Test century for England | Ali Martin
Related: Joe Root bemoans ‘very soft dismissals’ after England’s battering by Windies
Related: Roston Chase humiliates England as dominant West Indies win first Test
I don’t think Roston Chase can quite believe it either... pic.twitter.com/L04ejav1O2
Scenes of unalloyed delight on the pitch at Bridgetown from the West Indies . The teams shake hands and West Indies walk slowly off to the sound of vuvuzelas. England congratulate the winers politely but they’ve had a shocker. Blown away in the first innings, and then out-guiled by Chase, who had 44 wickets at 46 before this Test but who with 8-60 now has the best figures by a West Indian spinner since before the UK joined the EEC. Much for England to think about before the next Test in Antigua starting next Thursday- thanks for your company, good night!
Curran swings, topples and is well stumped by the stand-in wicket-keeper Hope. Roston Chase 8-60!!! And that... is that!
WEST INDIES WIN BY 381 RUNS
80th over: England 237-9 (Curran 13, Anderson 0) After all that Anderson is still there....four not out thanks to a slog-sweep off Campbell.
A long pause while the umpires try and decide whether a sweeping Anderson has touched the ball reverse-sweeping or if it was lbw....
79th over: England 237-9 (Curran 12, Anderson 0) Chase desperate for that final wicket, but this last pair prod him away.
78th over: England 237-9 (Curran 10, Anderson 0) One off John Campbell’s over.
77th over: England 235-9 (Curran 10, Anderson 0) That wasn’t really a great shot there by Rashid. A sort of thoughtless paddling-whip. And apparently Chase has the best figures by a West Indian spinner since 1971.
Courtesy of John Starbuck:
Yes, it’s him again! Rashid whips Chase straight into the hands of Brathwaite on the boundary.
76th over: England 234-8 (Curran 9, Rashid 1) Sam Curran! He pulls Gabriel for four, with a whip-cracking bottom hand. Then Rashid with Nonchalence by David Gower liberally sprayed all over, rocks him back for single that deserved a four.
Kandukuru Nagarjun writes:
75th over: England 228-8 (Curran 4, Rashid 0) Oh what can you say about Chase? (in the style of Pam Ayers) With a bit of this, a bit of that he’s destroyed England’s second innings.
Foakes down on one knee, sweeps, and is caught superbly at short leg tucked into the body. The young man Chase now has SIX.
74th over: England 228-7 (Curran 4, Foakes 0) Gabriel pounds in. Foakes pulls him for four, then flicks away a single and Curran, bounced out in the first innings is waiting....there’s the bouncer, but it is wide. Oh and there are lots of pink middle-aged English people in a paddling pool. They look like very happy zoo exhibits.
Peter Salmon is curious:“I like that you can pop into the next room where they are playing Cluedo. Make me think that all the OBO’s come from some Borgesian wonderland... ‘In this room they are playing at Cluedo. In this, Tanya is playing at cricket, or the idea of cricket. Open the further door and Professor Voltar plays chess with the rooks removed. And in the final room the Don Quixote, or a man who believes himself to be Don Quixote, turns an hourglass over and over, testing a theory about the effects of time on sixteenth century metaphysics.’
73rd over: England 222-7 (Curran 4, Foakes 0) Curran off the mark with a boyish four through the covers. Quite charming. Chase raises the scarlet globe in the air to acknowledge the crowd’s applause.
A magnificent flying double-handed, rib-banging, snaffle by Campbell at short mid-wicket. And that is five wickets for Chase!
72nd over: England 218-6 (Buttler 26, Foakes 0) Holder hands the ball to Gabriel for the first full over after tea. The shadows are shortening and the breeze blowing the lions across Buttler’s chest. Foakes gets a lifter first ball
Rashid stares thoughtfully round the dressing room door - if a spinner is dropped for Broad in the next test, might it now be Moeen?
71 overs: England 217-6 (Buttler 25, Foakes 0)
I just popped next door where they’re playing Cluedo. “Wrench, Peacock, Bedroom,” was the cry as I wafted away with my plate of toad in the hole. For England, it’s been “ Chase, Drifters, Sunshine.”
70.5 overs andTEA: England 217-6 (Buttler 25 )Well that wasn’t quite what the doctor ordered - four wickets lost in the session for 82 runs. A mission once extremely unlikely, now completely impossible. The West Indies kept on keeping on, a primary school teacher might describe England as “having a few problems keeping on task.”
Yikes, a pair for Moeen, with a hand-over-face back-foot glide straight to Jason Holder at second slip.
70th over: England 216-5 (Ali 0, Buttler 24) Gabriel has served his time in the long-grass after hobbling off the field mid-session for some repair work. Buttler scampers merrily away to the non-striker’s end after one ball and Moeen, on a pair, is greeted as is the custom. Two short ones in a row Is it just me or does Gabriel look like a bit like Patrick Patterson?
69th over: England 215-5 (Ali 0, Buttler 23) That’s a bad blow for England, ten minutes short of tea. Stokes just missed one that didn’t do very much - after he’d just passed 3000 Test runs too. The not-at-all-mysterious Chase strikes again.
No huge turn, a bit of drift and that’s out! The dominoes are teetering.
68th over: England 209-4 (Stokes 33, Buttler 18) Jon Campbell’s turn now, blue shades, long sleeves and fairly accurate off-spin. Stokes and Buttler have been briefly re-caged.
Kim writes from Finedon.
67th over: England 206-4 (Stokes 30, Buttler 18) An aeroplane shimmers through the azure sky, a gentleman in a breton polo shirt plays the sax and the breeze blows a Barmy Army flag that seems to say something like “Burfer” (I’m afraid I’ll have to leave that with you. ) That was a maiden from Joseph by the way.
66th over: England 206-4 (Stokes 30, Buttler 18) Plink and plonk.
A lovely email from Andrew Parker.
65th over: England 204-4 (Stokes 29, Buttler 17) Holder is switching his bowlers around like a man with a dodgy hand. He turns to Joseph. A not completely convincing boundary from Stokes, an awkward swivelled pull. And that’s the 200 up. Just another 428 to go. Buttler takes it as a personal affront , and toe-drives the next ball for four through long-off.
64th over: England 195-4 (Stokes 24, Buttler 13) A couple from Chase’s over, an inside-edge nibble from Stokes falls short of short-leg.
63rd over: England 193-4 (Stokes 23, Buttler 12) Just one from Roach’s over.
“Hi Tanya”
62nd over: England 192-4 (Stokes 23, Buttler 11) When will the real Ben Stokes..? Oh, now. He whallops Chase for four to long-on. Then a little shimmy and a drive, straighter, for six. Ten from the over.
61st over: England 182-4 (Stokes 13, Buttler 11) Roach replaces Holder and takes a round-the-wicket approach to Ben Stokes. He escapes to the other end. What the heck says Buttler, he swivels and pulls a four , then next ball rocks onto the back foot and drives beautifully through the covers. Consecutive boundaries.
Also, I meant to say thank you Simon - an eventful rum-punch to cress sandwich session.
60th over: England 173-4 (Stokes 12, Buttler 3) The lanky Chase, who’s already pocketed the key wickets Burns and Root, high-arms in, wrists touching sleeves Ooooch, Buttler avoids an edge by the width of a half-penny to the last ball of the over.
59th over: England 170-4 (Stokes 11, Buttler 1) Hello everyone! This morning I heard England’s chances being described as having to knock 40 minutes off the marathon world record.After Root’s dismissal, they’re behind the clock with a burst blister, sore knee and leaking water bottle.
Holder continues and England look watchful.
58th over: England 167-4 (Stokes 9, Buttler 0) Root is absolutely furious with himself as he trudges from the field. Not only is he out, he also misses out on drinks, which are taken mid-over while Jos Buttler makes his way out to replace him. And with that I’ll hand you over to Tanya Aldred – you can email her here, or get in touch on ye Twitter here. Bye!
I tell you something, I think West Indies might win this. There’s no real spin here, but Root attempts to work the ball to backward point and only diverts it to slip!
57th over: England 166-3 (Root 22, Stokes 8) Root slices his drive past point and gets four runs for his troubles.
56th over: England 162-3 (Root 18, Stokes 8) Stokes tries to drive Chase now, and he misses this one as well. He’s taken 37 balls so far over his eight runs, and fielded few of them well.
55th over: England 161-3 (Root 17, Stokes 8) Holder bowls across Stokes, who twice tries to drive and twice swishes through nothing but air. His timing is entirely awry, but he’s somehow clinging on.
54th over: England 161-3 (Root 17, Stokes 8) Chase continues, with a couple of slips and a short leg installed around the bat. Both batsmen add a single to their totals, but neither is quite convincing at the moment.
Right now, Jason Holder has a higher Test career batting average and lower bowling average than Ben Stokes.#undertheradar
53rd over: England 159-3 (Root 16, Stokes 7) Stokes attacks Holder’s opening delivery, but having taken a couple of steps forward has to abandon the idea when the ball goes somewhere other than where he wanted it to. His ambitions are most emphatically reined in from there. England, incidentally, are now more than 25% of the way to their target!
52nd over: England 159-3 (Root 16, Stokes 7) Chase continues, and a couple of singles ensue.
51st over: England 157-3 (Root 15, Stokes 6) Gabriel tries to york Stokes, at 150kph no less, but it’s not quite on the money and the batsman jabs his bat onto it. Then Stokes drives down the ground for four, with Gabriel limping and massaging his foot as the ball is fielded, and another full toss later he leaves the field, with one ball unbowled. John Campbell does the honours.
50th over: England 150-3 (Root 12, Stokes 2) England reach 150 in the 50th over, which is mathematically handy. Stokes ends the over by getting all in a muddle, but survives after getting something on the ball.
Stokes got a thick edge to that before it hit his pad, and he is very much not out.
West Indies didn’t really commit to their appeal, but however half-hearted it was the umpire was sold.
49th over: England 148-3 (Root 11, Stokes 1) Stokes, having shown little ambition to do anything but survive the over, pulls the fifth ball for a single, and then Root clips the last to deep square leg, where it’s misfielded on the boundary.
48th over: England 143-3 (Root 7, Stokes 0) A maiden over from Chase, his first of the match (he didn’t bowl in England’s first innings).
47th over: England 143-3 (Root 7, Stokes 0) Gabriel bowls short but wide, and Root flays it away for four. It’s a rare poor delivery in a spell of pace and aggression from Gabriel, and it’s all too much for Bairstow, who gets the featheriest of touches onto the ball and is on his way. This match has really swung away from England in the last 10 minutes or so.
This time they have their wicket! Bairstow gloves the ball down the leg side, and Hope takes a simple catch!
46th over: England 138-2 (Bairstow 30, Root 2) Suddenly, stuff is happening. West Indies were an inch here and a couple of inches there from taking two wickets in the last two overs, but will have to make do with the sense of panic and potential that has suddenly descended.
That looked a decent shout, but the ball hit the batsman outside the line of off stump, and thus he is saved.
But the umpire doesn’t agree, so they’re going upstairs …
45th over: England 136-2 (Bairstow 30, Root 1) That wasn’t even close. Gabriel left an acre of lawn between the crease and the back of his foot as he banged the ball in (sticklers for accuracy would perhaps measure it at about six inches) and West Indies’ joyful celebrations are curtailed, with Root most of the way back to the pavilion. The bowler tries a repeat dose, and Root looks unhappy about that as well. so there’s one more to end the over, banged in at 145kph, and this one spins off the fingers of Root’s glove and down the leg side, out of reach both of short leg and the keeper. England’s captain will not have enjoyed the last few minutes of his life.
That’s a cracker from Gabriel, who gets one to rear up into Root, who gloves to slip … but it’s a no ball!
44th over: England 134-2 (Bairstow 29, Root 1) A Root single completes Chase’s over.
The players are back out, with Root joining Bairstow in the middle. “I just feel the game swung psychologically in England’s favour when the lead dropped below the five hundred mark,” insists Dean Kinsella. Yes, just 494 to go now. It’s just a matter of time.
On the plus side, as John Little points out via email, England have now, across their two innings, scored more runs than Jason Holder. So there’s that.
After discussing and criticising his technique for a while, Paul Collingwood declares his belief that Keaton Jennings can still make it as a Test opener:
I’m a big believer that this man can make it. I love his character. He’s a strong character. His work ethic. All those boxes you need to be ticked. The problem at the moment, and it’s a big problem, is he isn’t scoring the runs.
43.5 overs: England 134-2 ( Bairstow 29) Bairstow welcomes Chase with a lovely shot off his pads and wide of long-on for four, but then a single brings Burns onto strike. He falls with just one run of the session to go, and West Indies depart with a bit of bonus spring in their step!
Chase coaxes the ball through the gate and into off stump, with Burns trying to defend!
43rd over: England 129-1 (Burns 84, Bairstow 24) The scoring rate has dipped significantly of late, as the lunch interval hoves into view. Roston Chase has just been handed the ball, so there might be two overs before it happens.
42nd over: England 127-1 (Burns 83, Bairstow 23) Roach keeps going, his 12th over of the innings, and it’s his third maiden.
41st over: England 127-1 (Burns 83, Bairstow 23) England are now 20% of the way to their still extremely distant target. Just another 501 runs required.
40th over: England 125-1 (Burns 81, Bairstow 23) Oooh! Roach’s second delivery deviates off the seam and flies just past Bairstow’s bat. Lovely work that from the bowler. Then Bairstow zings the ball off his pads and through midwicket for four!
39th over: England 121-1 (Burns 81, Bairstow 19) Yeeesh! Burns guides the ball down to third man again, though he sends the ball just wide (and also lands just short) of a diving Holder at second slip.
38th over: England 117-1 (Burns 77, Bairstow 19) Roach bowls short and straight, and Bairstow flicks it to deep midwicket for four, nicely timed. So Roach bowls a similar length but wider, and Bairstow tucks that one away as well. Roach then bowls another delivery very similar to that first one, and this time Bairstow gets his timing wrong, the ball catches the leading edge and lands safe. Roach’s follow-up is identical to last time – short, wide and extremely average – giving Bairstow another gift of a boundary.
37th over: England 105-1 (Burns 77, Bairstow 7) Burns attempts another cover drive but this one he doesn’t quite time it, and it bobbles straight to a fielder. A maiden from Joseph.
36th over: England 105-1 (Burns 77, Bairstow 7) England are now a sixth of the way to glory!
Since the start of 2018, Bairstow averages 5.80 against balls from seamers that would have gone on to hit the stumps. West Indies have already bowled a handful of balls in his danger area (shaded yellow). #WIvEngpic.twitter.com/IZiv7H59X3
35th over: England 102-1 (Burns 76, Bairstow 5) Burns jabs his bat down onto Joseph’s first delivery and has no idea where the ball goes after that, leading to a comedy bit of on-the-spot spinnage as he at tempts to track it down. Nothing wrong with a bit of spinnage, though, as Popeye fans will know. Later Burns drives smartly through the covers, Hetmyer stopping it well about a third of an inch from the rope. England run three, move into triple figures and earn a hearty ovation.
34th over: England 99-1 (Burns 73, Bairstow 5) Holder gets one to zig back into Bairstow and thump him in a thigh pad. The ball would obviously have cleared the stumps, though, so the appeal is brief.
33rd over: England 99-1 (Burns 73, Bairstow 5) Over drinks West Indies decide to bring in a short leg, and then Joseph’s first ball stays low as Bairstow’s bat swishes above it. A single later Burns slashes one over gully – not very far over him either – for four. “Pretty harsh of people to focus on the fact that Jennings keeps getting out in exactly the same way,” sniffs Felix Wood. “Why can’t they focus on all of the other ways he doesn’t get out?”
32nd over: England 94-1 (Burns 69, Bairstow 4) Holder’s first ball bounces high over Burns’ left shoulder, tempting him into an unadvisable attempted high cut. The ball flies past the bat and from there Burns retreats into his shell. Maiden.
31st over: England 94-1 (Burns 69, Bairstow 4) Bairstow gets off the mark with a boundary, flicked through midwicket and confirmed after a replay, the fielder just failing to flick it away before he slid into the rope.
30th over: England 90-1 (Burns 69, Bairstow 0) Having scored the runs and taken the catch, Holder comes on to bowl. “While Jennings was in, the contrast between him and Burns was pretty horrible,” cringes David Hindle. “Are we back to ‘not nearly good enough for test cricket!’. If so, who comes in instead?” Jennings is extraordinarily fallible, but it’s not as if England haven’t looked pretty hard for a decent alternative.
29th over: England 85-1 (Burns 65, Bairstow 0) Jennings didn’t really look like he was playing within himself, he just looked in poor nick. Unlike the moment that did for him, which was a very solid nick. Bairstow’s first ball rears up and he fends it away with his glove, but there’s no short leg to snaffle it.
For the first time in approximately forever, a wicket falls! Jennings gets a thick edge and it flies high to the tallest man on the field!
28th over: England 85-0 (Burns 65, Jennings 14) Burns deliberately cuts the ball between third slip and gully for four, a seriously ballsy shot in the circumstances, and then unzips another lovely cover drive with identical results.
“Just been having a conversation with our dachshund, Dakkers,” writes Kim Thonger. “He wishes it to be known that he now self identifies as TransSpecies. He has experienced the sense of being in the wrong species’ body and a desire to be a human, apparently a classic symptom of species dysphoria, for some time, and feels it is in everyone’s interest that he should make this official declaration. He’s also keen to know if Ed Smith might consider selecting him as an emergency specialist silly short leg for the Second Test? He’s a useful No3 with a batting style very reminiscent of Harry Pilling.”
27th over: England 77-0 (Burns 57, Jennings 14) Jennings tries to duck under a ball that never rises, and thumps ouchily into his upper arm. Jennings has faced 79 balls for his 14 runs; Burns has 57 from 83.
“There’s a very laissez-faire feel to today’s play,” notes Phil Withall. “The lack of urgency due to a large lead vs the lack of urgency due to a large lead. Going to be an interesting (not exciting) couple of days.”
26th over: England 76-0 (Burns 56, Jennings 14) Another maiden from Roach to Jennings. England remain one short of matching their first-innings total.
25th over: England 76-0 (Burns 56, Jennings 14) Gabriel bowls full and straight and Burns flicks the ball away again, scoring the couple of runs he needed to complete his half-century. He dabs the next down the leg side, taking the in the circumstances rather questionable decision to run a risky second, and then drives to the rope again. It continues to look, in short, like a fine time to be a batter.
John Starbuck meanwhile doesn’t believe that the home side need to be unduly worried about their keeping situation: “Presumably if Hope is injured, the West Indies could ask England if they could borrow one, seeing as we have so many.”
24th over: England 68-0 (Burns 48, Jennings 14) A maiden from Roach, with Jennings only once required to bring bat to ball.
23rd over: England 68-0 (Burns 48, Jennings 14) Jennings faces a ball for the first time today, with Gabriel going over the wicket, the ball slanted across the batsman and occasionally swinging a shade away from him as well. Jennings leaves the first four deliveries before punching the next past point for three. England are now over 10% of the way to victory, an important psychological milestone (potentially).
22nd over: England 65-0 (Burns 48, Jennings 11) Roach’s first ball is very full and very wide, and Burns goes to play at it before withdrawing his bat at the last. He attempts to drive the next, edges, and the ball flies perfectly between third slip and gully. It’s the second time Burns has done precisely that in this innings, prompting West Indies to immediately add a fourth slip. It doesn’t stop Burns driving, though, and he middles the next one, sending the ball hurtling through the covers for four more.
21st over: England 57-0 (Burns 40, Jennings 11) Hope regularly keeps wicket in ODIs, so should be familiar enough with the art of glovemanship. Gabriel bowls, and Burns leaves a couple, defends another, slashes at a wide one, bottom-edging into the ground, and clips the last off his pads, as he did so well yesterday, for one.
Team news update: Shane Dowrich, bat-wielding hero of yesterday, is feeling a muscle strain and has not taken the field. Shai Hope will keep wicket in his stead.
“I actually feel ill,” writes Peter Gibbs, as the players head out. “My heart is telling me … we can do this. My stomach is telling me … hide in the toilet.”
Jos Buttler has a chat with Sky. How big a bonus was the opening partnership, and their success batting to the close of play yesterday?
A great lift. a great effort from those two guys having spent a lot of time in the field. it can be a tough task but I thought they played very well and we need more of the same today.
Strange goings-on. We lost all those wickets and were well below par. Yesterday Holder and Dowrich played really well, though we missed a few chances. There were good signs for us last night and we need to build on that today. We need to work out why that happened. Credit to the West Indies, they bowled very well, but we just weren’t good enough to soak up that pressure and get a partnership going. We have to be much better than that.
Either you try to dig in the two of you and ride it out for half an hour or an hour, or you can go on the positive side and almost hit bowlers off those lengths that you’re finding difficult. Whatever way you do it you have to be brave and fully commit to that way.
No I wasn’t. The selectors and the captain go into that. But hindsight’s great. It’s a tough task, selecting a team. Batting has really been the major issue. Had we got runs on the board in our first innings we’d be in a position to utilise the attack we picked for this game.
Stuart’s been great. I think that’s one of the strengths of the side at hte minute. You talk about a squad, good harmony, people doing things for the team. Of course he’ll be disappointed but he knows showing that doesn’t help the team. He’s been great.
“DAB ready, check. Headphones ready, check. Peanuts, check. Beer ready, check. Ginger wine and long bendy straw ready, check. Catheter ready, check. Right, let the hunkering down begin,” says Damian Clarke. That sounds like the full hunkering-down kit. Plus ginger wine. I’m not sure where ginger wine fits in.
“Looks like a crucial first three sessions of the day,” suggests Gary Naylor. That’s pretty much where we’re at, though I’d say the first session is the most crucial – and that will continue to be the case until it ends.
Hello world!
Test One, Day Four, and if England were at all right in their reading of this pitch this is the day when the surface will deteriorate, a couple of decent spinners would come in handy and batting will become bothersome. There was little sign of that yesterday, though, as for the 10th time in the history of Test cricket - and after a lunatic 18 wickets had fallen on day two - an entire day was played in which 300 runs were scored and not a single wicket was taken.
Related: Inspired Jason Holder hits double century as wicketless England toil
Related: Jos Buttler: West Indies have given England a reality check
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