West Indies 79 for 6 (Athanaze 22, Anderson 2-11, Stokes 2-25) and 121 trail England 371 (Crawley 76, Smith 70, Root 68, Seales 4-77) by 171 runs
Needing to score 250 – more than double their first-innings total – just to make England bat again, West Indies slumped to 37 for 4 inside 19 overs. Anderson’s inswinger knocked back Kraigg Brathwaite’s middle stump, Stokes removed Mikyle Louis and Kirk McKenzie during a ten-over spell, and Kavem Hodge chopped Atkinson onto his own stumps.
West Indies’ batters were far too passive, looking to survive rather than score but ultimately managing neither. Alick Athanaze was a rare exception from No. 4, but he fell for 22 to a textbook Anderson set-up: he was worked over from around the wicket, with some balls shaping in and others leaving him before edging behind as he attempted to push through the covers.
Joshua da Silva and Jason Holder added 24 for the sixth wicket – damningly, West Indies’ third-highest stand of the match – but England struck with the final ball of the day. Stokes laid a short-ball trap with two men out on the hook, and Holder could only fend Atkinson’s bumper to Ollie Pope at short leg.
Root and Brook scored heavily square of the wicket in the first hour, with Brook batting fluently in his first Test innings in almost a year. In his 13th Test, he reached fifty for the 12th time but failed to add to it: he top-edged an attempted hook off Alzarri Joseph straight to da Silva, reinforcing the belief that he can be susceptible against the short ball.
Stokes’ first international innings of the season lasted only 11 balls. Motie, who vindicated his selection ahead of Kevin Sinclair, tossed the ball up in his first over of the morning and found sharp turn after landing it on a footmark. It ripped back past the inside edge of Stokes’ swish and left him open-mouthed as it knocked his middle stump out of the ground.
In the penultimate over before the interval, Root was left smiling in disbelief after losing his off stump. This time, Motie went wide on the crease and bowled his arm ball with an upright seam. Root shaped to punch into the off side as the delivery drifted in sharply, but it deviated late off the pitch to beat him on the outside edge.
Smith was the protagonist of the second session, hitting Seales over the Tavern Stand and onto St John’s Wood Road during his maiden Test innings. He shared a sedate partnership of 52 with Chris Woakes but after Woakes and Atkinson fell in quick succession to the second new ball, Smith found a new gear while batting with the tail, even with the field spread.
Louis’ dead-eye, direct-hit run-out of Shoaib Bashir at the non-striker’s end meant the retiring Anderson was applauded out to the middle for what may well prove to be his final innings in Test cricket. But he didn’t face a ball, with Smith pulling the final delivery of Seales’ over to McKenzie at deep backward square leg to finish with 70.
Shamar Joseph spent some of the afternoon session off the field due to some muscle tightness after a recent diet of T20, and was seen receiving treatment on his left hamstring in the dressing room. He was forced to leave the field midway through his 15th over, and looked in discomfort after getting through one further over with the second new ball.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
