The tourists have the edge at the Ageas Bowl after Jason Holder shone with the ball as the Windies ended day two 147 runs behind with nine in hand
Bad light has once again brought its pooper to the party. The covers are being dragged on and everyone retreats to the bubble. A fascinating, if truncated, day’s play which leaves West Indies marginally on top and the weather set fair for the weekend. England will thank Dom Bess for his sprightly 31, and the two lives that West Indies handed to Ben Stokes. West Indies are indebted to Jason Holder for yet another team-leading performance with the ball, and a killer-instinct with DRS, and their top three for surviving against Archer, Anderson, Wood and Stokes’s opening spells in perfect English conditions.
Thanks for all your emails, have a lovely evening!
“What strikes me about the image of Harold Larwood (17:59 in the OBO)“ writes Keith Smith, “is the umpire peering intently at the bowler’s feet, not watching where the ball is going. Is that why umpires used to give more no balls and fewer lbws than they do today?
I’m pretty sure that this is to do with the back foot no ball rule, which changed in 1963. And that, by the way, is stumps!
For those looking forward to recreational cricket next weekend
Fred Trueman hasn’t been mentioned yet... Ah! Thank you Kevin Thornton:
“Fred Trueman, like Flintoff, has never been considered a true speed merchant, yet on his day he could be frightening according to John Arlott. His partnership with Statham was one one of England’s finest, and he collected his 307 wickets while only being selected for half the tests of his time.”
Sky have switched to Jason Holder in the diary room, so I’m not sure there is any great chance of play soon. I’ve just started listening properly and catch Michael Holding saying
“Take the baton and keep on running.” While Holder, who looks visibly moved, replies, “hopefully the message you sent out yesterday [will hit home and] we can all get the systemic equality we’re looking for.”
More thoughts from Rod Lyall in New South Wales:
“ I reckon it could have been Tyson and Peter Loader. Except they only played two Tests together, and in neither case did they share the new ball: in one case it was Tyson and Statham with Loader first change, in the other Loader and Trevor Bailey, with Tyson first change.”
Wood 95mph! Not many deliveries faster than that ever bowled in England @tjaldred
On the subject of England’s fastest, a gem from John Starbuck:
“Larwood’s bowling was measured (perhaps not entirely accurately given the instruments of the 1930s) at between 95-100 mph. Voce wasn’t quite so fast but as the bigger man could also produce some hurry-up.
19.3 over: West Indies 57-1 (Brathwaite 20, Shai Hope 3) After three more rockets from Wood, the umpires gaze at their lightometres and off they go. It looks dull, dank and generally as if someone has sloshed used dishwater over the Rose Bowl.
19th over: West Indies 56-1 (Brathwaite 20, Shai Hope 2) A maiden from Stokes, who tests Brathwaite with various lengths, before jogging back to second slip. His longer hair is slicked back in a rather dapper Dennis Compton way.
There are still 30 overs theoretically left in the day.
18th over: West Indies 56-1 (Brathwaite 20, Shai Hope 2) Wood, trademark low arms held as if carrying a heavy bucket, steams in to three slips and a gully. You can be lulled by Sky’s piped sound into thinking this is just a normal Test; but in just a normal Test the crowd would be roaring him and Archer in. Hope repeatedly beaten for pace. Wood has taken 18 wickets in his last three Tests.
17th over: West Indies 54-1 (Brathwaite 20, Shai Hope 0) TV coverage returns in time to see the last two balls of Stokes’ first over, Brathwaite flicking a full bunger for four on the leg side.
16th over: West Indies 48-1 (Brathwaite 14, Shai Hope 0 ) Unfortunately, other than Wood bowling, I can’t give you any description of this as my TV has had brief breakdown.
But Phil Sawyer has been pondering over whether Wood/Jofra have any rivals in the England speed stakes:
15th over: West Indies 48-1 (Brathwaite 14, Shai Hope 0 ) Anderson, into his 8th over, sends down a maiden.
14th over: West Indies 48-1 (Brathwaite 14, Shai Hope 0 ) Wood is whistled for, hair and beard the same length, and delivers an over from 84-95 mph. Hope not looking entirely comfortable.
More thoughts on umpires from Gil Southwood
13th over: West Indies 43-1 (Brathwaite 9, Shai Hope 0 ) An eventful over for Campbell who survives one review, slaps Anderson for four, before being sent on his way with the final delivery. England have made the first incision.
Hello Tanya! There is a certain reward for the viewer to watch Jason Holder go about his ways, be it bowling, batting, or captaining the side,” writes Abhijato Sensarma . “He is the glue which binds together this emerging side, but he’s one of the world’s finest all-rounders irrespective of his captaincy credentials. His numbers since 2018 have been simply ridiculous. They have come across elite teams too. Is there a chance this series is what finally makes him properly-rated?”
Fuller, straighter and this time Anderson gets his man! Richard Kettleborough too breathes a large sigh of relief
Campbell survives a review for the second time, having, inexplicably, left an Anderson delivery to thump into his pads. The ball is fractionally too high as it wizzes over leg stump on the review.
REVIEW! Anderson to Campbell
12th over: West Indies 39-0 (Brathwaite 9, Campbell 21) Sky showing Archer from side on, the snap of his wrist as he brings his arm over like the pop of a new jam jar. He polishes the ball on his shirt as he goes full-short-full but Brathwaite survives.
11th over: West Indies 36-0 (Brathwaite 9, Campbell 21) Four legs byes off Anderson’s over. West Indies playing nicely here, keeping it ticking over, not taking any risks.
10th over: West Indies 32-0 (Brathwaite 9, Campbell 21) Archer, rapid, varies his length from full to short and Campbell, without looking comfortable, wriggles a couple from the over.
9th over: West Indies 30-0 (Brathwaite 9, Campbell 19) Oh the audacity! Campbell pings Anderson’s first ball through the covers for four then back down the ground for three, where Dom Bess fielding takes a great shod out of the ground.
“As a (very low grade) umpire myself, can I say I’m appalled at the suggestion of bias, writes Richard O’Hagan.“Umpires need to umpire as much as batsmen need to bat and bowlers need to bowl. These two have had little chance to hone their skills over the past few months and are probably just a bit rusty, slightly slow to pick up on the path of a ball going at around 90mph. They may also be standing further back than they usually would do, for safety reasons, which would affect perception. It’s always funny how batsmen can leave balls which hit off stump and bowlers can send down deliveries which barely hit the cut strip and no-one comments, but as soon as an umpire makes a couple of errors they are biased.
8th over: West Indies 23-0 (Brathwaite 9, Campbell 12) Archer plugging quite short, lifting Campbell off his feet with his final delivery. An expensive looking watch rests on his left wrist.
And the West Indian batsmen march out to the middle, looking up at the murky sludge sky and the empty threads of white bucket seats and the hollow arena and wonder...
A pertinent message from Parminder Khosa:
Umpires really showing the value of the review system, 4 big Windies shouts today, all given not out and all reviewed. All were hitting with just one being umpires call.
7th over: West Indies 21-0 (Brathwaite 7, Campbell 12) Ah, frustrations, with the game poised beautifully, the umpires take a reading and march the players off. The floodlights are on...I heard a discussion yesterday on TMS about using a pink ball during periods of bad light during a Test, I thought it had some validity. The idea being that having to face the pink ball was just another variable like turning up on a day when it was overcast, or having to field in 30 degrees.
The ball pitching outside leg... another great use of the review system by the West Indies today.
IF this is given it would be the first lbw decision given out in the match... he waits a long time before deciding to review...
6th over: West Indies 18-0 (Brathwaite 6, Campbell 10) Five slips for Archer, who is up in the high 80s/early 90s still. The RH ((Brathwaite), LH (Campbell) partnership could become. a source of some frustration. Archer roars an appeal off his last ball, over the wicket into Campbell’s pads, but Stokes isn’t interested enough to review.
5th over: West Indies 15-0 (Brathwaite 5, Campbell 10) Anderson drops a little short with a couple of deliveries and West Indies are relatively untroubled, even managing to scurry through for a quick couple off his last ball.
4th over: West Indies 12-0 (Brathwaite 4, Campbell 8) Campbell chops Archer through backward point for four first ball and they survive the over.
Meanwhile Sumit Rahman puts the J into jinx: “I reckoned that given the quality of the two bowling attacks, the (ahem) ‘quality’ of the batting line ups and the apparent fact that whichever month the cricket season starts the weather will be like a rainy May in England, the three games in this series will be a lot of low scoring affairs, 180-220 in the first innings and 150-200 in the second. So I’m not terribly unhappy with England’s total here. If one team finds a batsman who can eke out a couple of centuries in the series that might be what makes the difference.”
3rd over: West Indies 4-0 (Brathwaite 1, Campbell 3) Anderson bowling to four slips - Sibley, Stokes, Crawley and ?? - continuing as he ever has, pulling Brathwaite in any direction he choses. We see the seam wiggling down the pitch before the ball pitches and angles in, squaring Brathwaite up.
2nd over: West Indies 4-0 (Brathwaite 1, Campbell 3) Archer starts his softly softly trundle in, picking up his red soles behind him. A bouncer rises haphazardly and Brathwaite has to squat on his haunches to evade it. He’s immediately up in the high 80s, with one delivery at 90mph.
And another little bit on Holder:
You’ve heard of the 3° of separation. Well now you’ll learn of the 1.7° of Jason Holder’s bowling.
The captain has managed 1.7° of swing, the most of any West Indies quicks, and it's causing havoc in Southampton#WIReady#ENGvWIpic.twitter.com/xwzGT6zkT8
1st over: West Indies 0-0 (Brathwaite 0, Campbell 0) Of course Anderson will be opening the bowling with Archer/Woods, oh my, how could I have forgotten England’s leading wicket taker? He has tied a thick black bandana round his head to keep his hair off his face, varying his pace and length and on the money straight away. A maiden.
Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell.
Rubbing my hands in some anticipation to see Wood and Archer take the new ball. The West Indies batting line-up doesn’t inspire a lorry load of confidence, suspect it may be Holder again doing the buisness later on today, but this time with the bat.
Kim Thonger drops a mail:
”I just had my traditional afternoon power nap, during which I dreamt that Stuart Broad got a fivefer by close of play today. Then I woke up and remembered he’d been dropped. I think my subconscious is harbouring a grudge against the selectors. I’m wondering if a medicinal half pint of London Pride might be prudent, just to reset my constitution?”
Holder’s 6-42 is his best bowling figures in Tests. Can the OBO recapture the term old-fashioned values? If so, that’s Holder with a cricket ball: height, accuracy, crafstmanship, intelligence, he’s got it all. As for England, better than it could have been, worse than it might have been. Time for a quick tea, see you in five mins.
Jason Holder 6/42 now...
the fourth-best figures by a Test captain against England
Best: 7/40 Imran Khan at Leeds in 1987
and
the fourth-best by a West Indian Test captain
Best: 7/37 Courtney Walsh at Wellington in 1995#EngvWI#EngvsWI
Gabriel throws down a rapid full bunger that cracks into Anderson’s off stump and leaves him squared off and the teams walking back to the pavilion.
67th over: England 204-9 (Anderson 10, Bess 31) Anderson scampers up the other end after darting the ball towards point, leaving Bess to deal with Roach. Which he does with some aplomb - reaching, then passing, 200 with two consecutive fours through point and the covers. West Indies bowlers not backing their captain up here, and England polishing the shoes of respectability.
66th over: England 195-9 (Anderson 9, Bess 23) Time for Gabriel to pound the earth again. Nineteen iron ore steps later, Bess leans back and quite cleverly sends a bouncing ball square. They survive the over, leaving Anderson to face Kemar Roach.
65th over: England 195-9 (Anderson 9, Bess 23) Holder persists with Joseph, and through the glass darkly we see Wood and Buttler having a jolly good chuckle about something or other.
64th over: England 191-9 (Anderson 7, Bess 21) Holder straining for his best Test figures - currently 6-59 v Bangladesh. Anderson punches his last ball down the ground very effectively for three and keeps the strike.
By the way, did anyone catch this Bond villain at lunch?
Ed Smith looking like he's explaining to Big Brother why he shouldn't be voted out this Friday @SkyCricket#ENGvWIpic.twitter.com/nSUljohY4E
63rd over: England 187-9 (Anderson 4, Bess 20) Bess throwing his inner Stokes, edging Joseph over the slips and then bottom edging him in the same direction for two consecutive fours. Anderson survives the over. Joseph coltishly out of sorts.
A lovely message arrives from Nick White (we’ll forgive you the dig.). Hold on in there Nick:
62nd over: England 178-9 (Anderson 4, Bess 12) Anderson shows them how it is done, turning Holder off his legs past short leg for four.
“Is this going to be another one of those innings in which approaching 200 is made but no-one gets even a 50?” asks John Starbuck.
That man again! Wood plumps his front leg forward and pushes with a swagger at Holder, the ball flies above Hope’s head at gully and he snaffles it.
61st over: England 174-8 (Bess 12, Wood 5) Though you wouldn’t bet on Bess and Wood to bat for your life, both can throw the bat. I wonder what the instructions were from the dressing-room. Joseph not threatening - time for a bowling change? - and Bess eases him hither and thither for 8 off the over.
60th over: England 166-8 (Bess 7, Wood 2) Holder caresses the ball, gold earrings glinting in his ears like christmas tree lights as dusk falls. Bess and Wood knock him gently to and fro without much incidents. Apparently no bowler has averaged under 12 in ten tests since Tony Lock, Holder is currently in the 11s.
59th over: England 163-8 (Bess 4, Wood 2) Thanks Simon and hello everyone! Rather a slippery slope for England since lunch when you could have imagined a counter-attacking afternoon from Buttler and Stokes. What a bit of bowling by Jason Holder - you can see just why he’s the number one allrounder in the world - accurate, tricksy and canny, so so canny. I hadn’t realised how much he’d improved in the last couple of years - this is his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests, six of which have come in his last ten matches. Anyway, that was a fairly non-eventful over from Joseph.
58th over: England 157-8 (Bess 1, Wood 0) Wood sees off the final two balls of the over. And with that I’m going to slope off. Tanya Aldred will see you through the remainder of the day. Bye!
That was hitting the top of leg stump, and Archer’s gone for a duck! This is a sensational day’s work for Holder, who is not only bowling better than anyone else, he’s umpiring better than anyone else too!
Sensational five-wicket haul from Jason Holder. Bowled just five overs during the warm-ups
He thinks Archer’s out, and he’s been calling these perfectly so far...
57th over: England 156-7 (Bess 1, Archer 0) Talking of which, Alzarri Joseph gives Dom Bess a real going-over here, twice slamming the ball into what is sometimes called the upper thigh area, or perhaps the central-lower-waist department. After six balls as Joseph’s socially-distant punchbag he’ll be glad of a brief breather as the players take drinks.
C’mon Jofra!!!!#ENGvWI
56th over: England 156-7 (Bess 1, Archer 0) It’s been a cracking hour or so since lunch, an hour in which the game’s pendulum started to swing in one direction before crashing back the other way, catching a couple of batsmen in the nuts on its way past.
And that’s the other one gone! A fourth wicket for Holder, and an excellent low, diving catch from Dowrich behind the stumps!
55th over: England 156-6 (Buttler 35, Bess 0) Two runs, courtesy of a misfield, as England come to terms with the loss of their captain, and just when he and Buttler were threatening to make the scorecard look somewhat less one-sided.
Ben Stokes (43) just missed the opportunity of becoming the first English skipper to make a fifty in his maiden innings as captain while batting at #5.
Highest still is the 49 by Percy Chapman vs Australia at the Oval in Aug 1926.#EngvWI#EngvsWI
54th over: England 154-6 (Buttler 33, Bess 0) Holder has bowled exceptionally today, and his figures make splendid reading: fifteen overs, five maidens, 30 runs, three wickets.
England’s captain is on his way! The previous ball tempted him down the pitch but he pulled out of his shot. This time he stays back and tries to work off his pads but it nips back a jot, clips an edge, and Dowrich takes the catch!
53rd over: England 154-5 (Stokes 42, Buttler 33) Snorter! The ball straightens off the pitch and rises sharply, and Stokes is completely caught out by it. Just one off Roach’s over, halting England’s acceleration: they scored 106 runs in the 43 overs faced in this innings before lunch on day two, and 48 in 10 overs since, almost exactly double the previous scoring rate.
52nd over: England 153-5 (Stokes 42, Buttler 33) Holder brings himself back, and a very slightly short yorker is edged along the ground and a gap in the cordon for four by Buttler.
51st over: England 147-5 (Stokes 42, Buttler 27) Ooof! Stokes inside-edges into the ground, and the ball bounces into his right heel and just past the stumps! Then he advances to smear past extra cover for four, a shot he’s attempted a few times against Roach without previously quite nailing it.
50th over: England 141-5 (Stokes 36, Buttler 27) Buttler’s drive is a little airy, but it’s nicely aimed between the fielders and zips away for four. Then he volleys a full-toss safely over the two fielders at point and cover with the same outcome.
Once, ONCE, England are going to have Buttler in a position where he can do this from 350-5 rather than 80-5. #ENGvWI
49th over: England 130-5 (Stokes 33, Buttler 19) Three runs off Roach’s over, and England are averaging four an over since lunch, a decent and presumably deliberate acceleration.
48th over: England 127-5 (Stokes 32, Buttler 17) A couple of leg byes off the last ball of Gabriel’s over. “Now from his words, you might think that Stuart Broad was having a dig at a) the team selection, and b) the toss decision,” writes Adam Hirst of that Broad tweet down the page a bit, “but I reckon that photo doesn’t show all of it. There are mounds of empty lager cans at his feet, and he’s the only person watching the only cricket match on the planet, and he’s doing it from his hotel balcony … and getting paid for it. Surely he has to be chuckling at his good fortune.”
47th over: England 125-5 (Stokes 32, Buttler 17) Roach bowls across Stokes, and the ball clips his thigh pad on the way through, getting everyone briefly excited. Then he takes a couple of steps forward to clip through midwicket for four, lovely timing. Then he drives straight to the man at extra cover, and it goes down again! Shamarh Brooks is the culprit this time, and Stokes has had two extra lives!
46th over: England 119-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 17) Shot! Gabriel bowls shortish and Buttler rises with it, on his tippiest toes as he drives off the back foot through the covers for four.
45th over: England 115-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 13) Roach barks his way through another over. Stokes eventually gets twitchy and advances to the final delivery, but he doesn’t really commit to the shot and it skews away. Maiden.
44th over: England 115-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 13) Two wide deliveries bring two boundaries, one for each batsman. “There is a lot implied in that Broad Tweet, methinks,” thinks Steve Hudson. “‘Lads battling hard in tremendous English bowling conditions’ - what, those juicy English conditions that you’ve proved to be absolutely lethal in for the last 12 years, before you got dropped, Stu?”
Right then. Covers off, players on. Shannon Gabriel has the ball. “Stuart Broad’s comment (43rd over) has to be taken with a pinch of salt n’est-ce-pas?” says Gary Naylor. “He’s hardly going to throw his mate under the bus in public is he? I suspect the only person on the ground who believes Stokes’ decision to bat was 100% correct is Jason Holder.” To be 100% convinced about that decision at his point would be rather odd, even if you’re Stokes himself.
The restart has been scheduled for 1.55pm local time, or 10 minutes from now.
The bad news is that the hover cover is on, and the restart will be delayed. If it is currently raining it must be very light.
Lunchtime poser: “With the conditions (and the current batting performance) being as it is, will Stokes be maverick enough to declare for 100 so as to get through the Windies top order (with 9 slips in the cordon of course) before the sun arrives, then bat for the entire twp days of English summer, followed by Jimmy taking ten-fer on Sunday evening?” wonders Adam Giles.
No, obviously, but maybe he and Buttler might go for some quick runs. I do think that given the forecast for the next few days (mostly sunny, since you ask), England might regret being at the crease for the entire period of ideal bowling conditions. Though they could have given that a bit of thought before the toss, really.
Other cricket news alert! England have announced a 24-man training squad for the ODI series against Ireland, and it looks like this:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) capt, Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), Henry Brookes (Warwickshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Tom Curran (Surrey), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Laurie Evans (Sussex), Richard Gleeson (Lancashire), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Sussex), Reece Topley (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire).
Related: England blend experience with fresh blood for one-day series against Ireland
Here’s the view from Broad’s hotel balcony, which gives a good idea of the conditions in Southampton this morning.
View from the hospitality tent (my hotel balcony.) Lads battling hard in tremendous English bowling conditions. pic.twitter.com/dbUWCFBWCr
43rd over: England 106-5 (Stokes 21, Buttler 9) Buttler pushes Joseph’s first delivery wide of cover for four, and the over ends with a couple of singles. It’s been a fabulous session from West Indies, one drop from perfection.
“100% the right decision at the toss,” insists Stuart Broad on Twitter. “You can’t tell what the clouds will be doing at lunchtime day 2 at the toss can you? & for everyone watching on TV we’ve already seen variable bounce and a lot of it.”
This graphic illustrates why Jason Holder has a bowling average of 14.14 in Test cricket since the start of 2018. Extreme height, extreme swing, extreme seam - all whilst maintaining superb accuracy. #ENGvWIpic.twitter.com/sQASRVAahV
42nd over: England 100-5 (Stokes 20, Buttler 4) England finally reach triple figures.
41st over: England 97-5 (Stokes 20, Buttler 1) Nearly another! Joseph bowls short, Stokes top-edges his hook, Roach runs around, dives, and the ball lands in his hands before popping back out again! Stokes runs a couple, turns his back to the next one which crashes into him in a manner that must have been a great deal more painful than he made it look, and then smashes the last ball of the over through midwicket for a clean four. “It is great to welcome back cricket and the warm familiarity of England making a hash of it,” says Colum Farrelly.
40th over: England 89-5 (Stokes 14, Buttler 1) A couple of singles off Holder. Maybe three more overs before lunch, with a little luck. “As I’m a naturally joyous and optimistic person, constantly looking for ways to make the world a better place, I will take solace from the fact that sport is officially back,” writes Phil Withall. “I will also enjoy the irony when, at 11.15 pm Queensland time on Saturday the planets will align and my football team will be relegated at the same time England are defeated in this Test.” This is surely the most rapturously-received England collapse of recent times.
39th over: England 87-5 (Stokes 13, Buttler 0) A maiden from Joseph. These are delicious bowling conditions, and the West Indies are tucking in.
38th over: England 87-5 (Stokes 13, Buttler 0)“Jason Holder orchestrating things perfectly. Best captain in Test cricket by some distance,” says Tom Wellman. He’s certainly making all the right calls at the right times this morning, and bowling beautifully to boot.
Pope gives Dowrich an opportunity to demonstrate that there is something he enjoys more than changing ends by feathering an edge through to the keeper, and England are five down!
37th over: England 85-4 (Stokes 13, Pope 10) Joseph returns, and Stokes drives straight down the ground, close enough to the stumps to have Pope spinning and diving for safety, and away for four. He throws everything at the next one, which he tries to smash through midwicket but profoundly fails.
36th over: England 81-4 (Stokes 9, Pope 10) Pope ends Holder’s over with two lovely shots for four, the first through midwicket and the second through the covers, both absolutely sumptuous. A couple of people have emailed asking for the TMS link for overseas listeners, so this is for you:
If you're overseas and want to follow the action...
https://t.co/WDQzXzEsBc#bbccricketpic.twitter.com/JFBDrmgPtA
35th over: England 73-4 (Stokes 9, Pope 2) Just the single from Roach’s latest set. “England three down for 60-odd against the Windies under leaden skies,” sighs Richard O’Hagan. “It’s like the 1980s all over again. I wonder who Tony Lewis will be talking to during the lunch break?” Tony Lewis turned 82 on Monday. Happy birthday Tony!
34th over: England 72-4 (Stokes 9, Pope 1) The ball passed very close to Crawley’s inside edge and there was a sound, but on replay it turned out to have come when the bat passed the pad, and before the ball turned up to get involved. I think the umpire’s decision was understandable both because of the ball’s trajectory and because of that rogue noise, but Holder got his call spot on again. England have scored 37 runs today, and lost three wickets.
Another good review, another wicket falls!
Holder hits Crawley’s front pad, but the ball was cutting across the batsman - would it have hit the stumps? They want to find out!
33rd over: England 71-3 (Crawley 10, Stokes 9) Once in Roach’s last over Stokes advanced down the pitch but was forced to just block. Now he does it again and punches the ball through Crawley’s legs and away to the long-on boundary. I do like the way Shane Dowrich sets off for the other end between overs, as if it’s very favourite thing.
32nd over: England 67-3 (Crawley 10, Stokes 5) Crawley tries to take his bat away but doesn’t do it in time, and the edge bounces just in front of Campbell at third slip. The next he tries to flick through midwicket but he gets another edge, and this one goes wide of Holder and away for four.
31st over: England 63-3 (Crawley 6, Stokes 5) Roach’s last ball fades away from Stokes, who has a little nibble but gets nothing on it. Great end to a good over.
30th over: England 62-3 (Crawley 5, Stokes 5) Gabriel’s spell is broken, and Holder comes back to replace him. It’s a pretty tasty over, and a completely different test to Gabriel, full of variety of line and length. Maiden, and drinks follow.
29th over: England 62-3 (Crawley 5, Stokes 5) A loud but short appeal as Roach sends the ball crashing into Stokes’ back pad, the ball having made impact well outside the line.
28th over: England 60-3 (Crawley 4, Stokes 4) Gabriel has his tail up and the wind in his sails, thundering in like some kind of turbocharged steamroller. Stokes eventually follows Crawley in getting off the mark with a boundary, pulled past square leg. “Three wickets down after winning the toss and going into bat in the first Test of the summer,” writes Guy Hornsby. “If you’re searching for comfort and familiarity in the pandemic, here you are.”
27th over: England 56-3 (Crawley 4, Stokes 0) Shot! Crawley gets off the mark with a tasty cover drive, probably shot of the day so far. “Re Joseph bowling to Joseph (21st over), four Josephs featured in the opening session of the Antigua Test last year: all three English Josephs lost their wickets, two of them to the WI Joseph,” writes Smylers.
26th over: England 52-3 (Crawley 0, Stokes 0) Gabriel welcomes Stokes with a delivery almost identical to the one that did for Burns, but this one would surely have gone down leg and the appeal fades swiftly. And that is followed by a wild, wild wide that heads towards first slip. Burns and Denly patiently played themselves in this morning, and then rapidly got themselves out.
Three reds and Burns goes! Great call from Gabriel, who overruled a clearly ambivalent Holder to force a review and got his reward.
The ball hit Burns in the ankle and ran away; the umpire wasn’t impressed but Gabriel is very enthusiastic and Holder goes with it.
25th over: England 49-2 (Burns 28, Crawley 0) Kemar Roach bowls and Crawley leaves all but a couple of them. These all turn out to be good decisions, but not by much: there’s one that just clears the stumps, and another that would probably have done the same had it not clipped his back leg. I’d have appealed pretty loudly, but Roach decides against it.
24th over: England 49-2 (Burns 28, Crawley 0) Denly slaps the first through midwicket for four, and is sent packing by the second. It’s an absolute crackerjack of a delivery, and given Denly’s foot placement, which is currently being dissected on Sky, there was nothing he could do about it.
BULLSEYE!
Denly (18) cleaned up by a 90mph nip-backer from Shannon Gabriel - England 48-2 against West Indies ️
Watch #ENGvWI live: https://t.co/BMwxc1qv7N
Live over-by-over blog: https://t.co/0fihI9bQjg#raisethebatpic.twitter.com/PY33gwP0Hr
Beauty! Gabriel gets one to nip back, sear through the gate at 90mph and crash into off stump!
Nasser Hussain is discussing Joe Denly's issues with the nip-backer on @SkyCricket. As this graphic shows, Denly averages just over 15 against deliveries seaming back into him. #ENGvWIpic.twitter.com/lluEnaTSu8
23rd over: England 44-1 (Burns 28, Denly 14) Holder’s sixth over. On average England have scored 0.67 runs off each of them, and this one’s a maiden
22nd over: England 44-1 (Burns 28, Denly 14) Denly has yet to score this morning, and Burns adds three more in this over with a single off the last, so Denly’s run isn’t going to end immediately. The speed gun suggests Gabriel is hitting 90mph or close to it, pretty tasty pace for a cloudy Southampton morning.
21st over: England 41-1 (Burns 25, Denly 14) Some judicious leaving here from Denly, with one of Holder’s deliveries flying maybe four inches over middle stump. He only puts bat on the last, and makes no effort to score any actual runs. “We have Alzarri Joseph bowling to Joseph Denly,” notes Richard O’Hagan. “I wonder how often that surname-forename correlation happens in international cricket?”
20th over: England 41-1 (Burns 25, Denly 14) Gabriel comes on, and Burns miscues his first delivery past point for four. He oversteps once, giving away a bonus run.
19th over: England 36-1 (Burns 21, Denly 14) Since the first ball of the 14th over, which Burns hit for four, England have scored two. Burns works Joseph’s last delivery off his hip for a single, his 1,000th Test run.
18th over: England 35-1 (Burns 20, Denly 14) Two balls to finish Alzarri Joseph’s over, carried over from yesterday. The first goes onto the pads and is clipped straight to a fielder at midwicket, the second is banged short and has Denly swishing awkwardly and inaccurately.
The players are out. There are a few jumpers on but no umbrellas out, so all is good.
Sky’s live broadcast has started, and there’s all sorts of action going on across the outfield. The square is uncovered, and it looks like we’re on schedule.
There’s also Vic Marks on the actual action, such as it was:
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Hello world!
Just 17.4 overs were played yesterday - at least there are no fans to refund - but it was a pleasure just to watch cricket not be played because of rain, with all its familiar frustrations, having spent the preceding months watching cricket not be played because of a global pandemic, less familiar and far less likely to clear up within a couple of hours with a bit of luck.
You can’t understand the history of cricket without understanding the history of empire. You can’t appreciate the rivalries between these, and other, teams, without appreciating the relationship between our countries, what’s been given, and what’s been taken.
You can’t understand the hostility of Michael Holding’s bowling without understanding what made him so angry, you can’t appreciate Frank Worrell’s grace as a captain without knowing something of the prejudice he faced, you can’t value the violence of Viv Richards’ batting without a sense of what he was fighting against.
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