England vs West Indies 1st Test Match Day 3 Breakdown

Day three breakdown

Another lacklustre day for England, after being bowled out for 204 and only taking one wicket on day 2, the West Indies resumed their innings on 57-1 with Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope at the crease. The former top scored with a scratchy but well made 65 which was the foundations for an innings the tourists will be very happy with. Batting conditions looked a lot easier than when the English side were batting on it. In hindsight, Stokes choosing to bat first was the wrong one, and Stuart Broad’s comments of not being able to tell what the weather will do, is slightly frustrating… it is literally people’s jobs to tell us what the weather will do. Anyway, the conditions were a lot less overcast and the pitch looked flat.

The West Indies got their bowling tactics right all of day 2, push the ball up and it would move. Unfortunately, the English pace attack, besides Jimmy, were more interested in bowling a shorter length. Archer and Wood lack the control that Broad would have bought to this bowling attack and it did seem like a Stuart Broad kind of day. Wickets did seem to fall at regular intervals but not before the tourists built a substantial lead of over 100.

Stokes, Bess and Anderson all stood out, but Dom Bess was the most surprising to me. The off spinner bowled with a lot of skill and trusted his captain to set good fields and worked to plans. Although a dropped catch later in the day was disappointing his two wickets were extremely helpful from a spinner in the first innings, I expect him to work some magic in the second innings if England score enough runs. Stokes led from the front with bat and ball as he took 4-49, Anderson with 3-62 and the final wicket went to Mark Wood, who toiled away but spent most of his time in the dirt after exerting a lot of energy in his delivery stride.

The English openers managed to bat through a tough 40-minute spell to start their second innings as openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley reached 15-0, a deficit of 99. This was a difficult spot and the two handled it well, Sibley looked to have tweaked his technique to allow him to leave the ball more freely outside the off stump which is good to see. Burns looked solid as always, a big partnership is needed tomorrow from these two if England have any chance of securing a draw, let alone a win.