England 38 for 3 (Crawley 18, Seales 2-19) trail West Indies 282 (Brathwaite 61, Holder 59, Atkinson 4-67, Woakes 3-69) by 244 runs
Flashes of West Indies fight saw them end the opening day of the third Test at Edgbaston just about even with England, but the tourists’ challenge is to turn the glimmers of hope they’ve shown since the start of the second Test into match-turning moments.
But there was a twist, with both England openers removed with consecutive balls and nightwatcher Mark Wood also falling as the home side went to the close on 38 for 3, trailing by 244 runs.
Seales had Zak Crawley out edging to Holder with his 12th ball and Alzarri Joseph, who had spilled a return catch off Ben Duckett in the previous over, had him out chopping onto his stumps with the first ball of his next. Wood followed, edging Seales to Holder at second slip as England were given plenty to think about overnight.
With the ball 61 overs old and the pitch unresponsive, Woakes conjured enough movement to be hopeful with a fuller one angling down the leg side which beat Da Silva and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who parried it away for four byes. With the next, he rapped Da Silva’s front pad with another fullish delivery that looked as though it was going down the leg side.
Then, bingo. Woakes enticed a loose waft from Da Silva with a back-of-a-length delivery that pitched outside off and then moved away from the right-hander as he looked to thread it through backward point but instead edged to Smith one run shy of his half-century. It was a crucial wicket for England after West Indies had recovered from 115 for 5.
From there, Woakes had the ball properly swinging again, and he grabbed his third wicket with an outswinger which Alzarri Joseph skied straight to Ben Stokes at mid-off.
Atkinson chimed in with his third, a beauty to remove Holder, the ball pitching on middle and swinging away as the batter tried to play across the line and had his off stump dislodged. Holder’s slow-motion trudge off the field was the perfect illustration of West Indies’ mood at that point.
Atkinson then removed Gudakesh Motie with a short ball which had the batter ducking and thrusting his bat above his head, the ball sailing over a jumping Smith as Joe Root took a stunner diving across from slip and flinging out his hand, where the ball miraculously stuck.
Shoaib Bashir, the off-spinning star of England’s second-Test victory took the last wicket when Shamar Joseph hit high down the ground and Crawley, running round from long-off, took the catch.
Earlier, Louis had faced 22 balls to get off the mark, striking Atkinson through cover point and running two. But, after the first hour, West Indies were 49 without loss, having won the toss.
Brathwaite moved to 49 guiding a full Stokes delivery past point and brought up his half-century with a single next ball. It was his first fifty in nine Test innings since July last year.
But Atkinson made the initial breakthrough, drawing an edge with a short ball that was moving away as Louis prodded behind to Smith. For the fifth time in as many Tests innings in his fledgling career, Louis reached double figures but he is yet to pass the 27 he made on debut in the first match of this series at Lord’s.
Wood’s pace wasn’t quite what it was at Trent Bridge but it caused West Indies enough problems.
Brathwaite was left doubled up after a nasty knock to the box by a short ball. Then, after Kirk McKenzie had struck three boundaries in four Atkinson deliveries, Wood removed him for 12 in his next over, flattening his middle stump with a 91mph inswinging yorker.
Atkinson grabbed his second wicket on the stroke of lunch as Alick Athanaze bottom-edged a short ball which stayed low onto his off stump and West Indies went to lunch at 97 for 3.
Two early wickets in the afternoon session kept the hosts on top. Brathwaite had added just five runs after lunch before he was caught behind down the leg side attempting a pull shot off a Wood shorter ball. Adding to West Indies’ woes, replays suggested that the catch had come off Brathwaite’s right glove, which was off the bat handle at the time.
Just two balls later, Kavem Hodge errantly left a Woakes delivery which angled in towards middle and off stumps and straightened slightly to crash into the top of off.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
