England 204 and 284 for 8 (Sibley 50, Crawley 76, Archer 5*, Wood 1*, Gabriel 3-62) lead West Indies 318 by 170 runs
West Indies’ seamers took five wickets in the last 75 minutes of the fourth day to leave an enthralling Test match in the balance at the Ageas Bowl.
England looked to have put themselves into a very strong position as Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley made half-centuries, batting time on a pitch with variable bounce, as thoughts turned to what kind of lead they might want before declaring on the last day.
But after Jason Holder drew an edge to second slip from Ben Stokes, the wickets tumbled: Alzarri Joseph accounted for Crawley and Jos Buttler in the day’s quickest spell before Shannon Gabriel ripped through Dom Bess and Ollie Pope to leave West Indies dreaming of a renowned win.
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley had survived a brutal 10-over examination on the third evening but found scoring easier in the morning session, moving through the gears as they added 47 in the first hour of the day. But Holder reacted, bowling dry in tandem with offspinner Roston Chase, and the scoring pressure eventually told as Burns spooned a catch to point off Chase’s first half-tracker of the day.
Sibley in specific dropped anchor. He used to be from time to time bogged down against Chase, and gave the impression to be caught in two minds when Holder asked Joseph to target his ribcage, a tactic which proved to be his undoing in his last three innings in South Africa and even in the intra-squad warm-up match. He used to be handed a life the ball after passing fifty, dragging a back-of-a-length delivery from Gabriel onto his stumps only for the third umpire to come to a decision that he overstepped by a fine margin. But Gabriel had his man two balls later, firing a length ball down the leg side from wide on the crease which Sibley only managed to tickle through to Shane Dowrich.
Denly, backed at No. 3 ahead of Crawley, played this sort of innings that has change into his trademark, for better or worse. He struggled early on, playing and lacking repeatedly and surviving a shout for a catch off Holder which used to be shown to have looped up to second slip via his body on review. He grew in fluency as his innings wore on, but his dismissal – chipping an innocuous delivery from Chase to straight midwicket – used to be nothing whether not soft.
Denly’s failings were exposed further by Crawley’s success. Chris Silverwood had hinted in the build-up to this Test that Denly used to be likely to be included for the second one Test when Joe Root returns, telling the BBC: “Joe is in possession this present day, and I do consider in giving people one too many chances moderately than one not enough.”
But it kind of feels incredible that Crawley will lose his place after an innings that oozed class, with a straight drive down the ground off Roach early in his innings some of the shots of the day. While England’s top three relied on flicks, pulls and dabs at the back of square, Crawley scored the huge majority of his runs in front of the wicket, driving elegantly and the usage of his long levers to hit excessive off Chase.
West Indies looked short of ideas against him and Stokes throughout their partnership of 98, with Stokes in specific taking a disdainful approach to Gabriel’s new-ball spell as England looked to make the game safe. But again Holder’s emphasis on discipline reaped rewards, as Stokes edged to second slip to fall to his contrary number for the second one time in the match before Crawley offered a return catch to Joseph six balls later.
The game turned on its head in a rush. Joseph, who had been used sparingly earlier in the day moderately than being rammed into the ground, bowled with good pace, and burst through Buttler’s loose shot to leave England six wickets down.
While Buttler’s failure to make a telling score will undoubtedly put him under scrutiny – his average since the start of final summer’s Ashes is now just 21.38 – Joseph’s spell used to be brutal, as he found movement with the ball still quite new. Tellingly, his celebrations were muted even after his breakthroughs, as whether to stress that there used to be still a job to be done.
Some great benefits of Holder’s captaincy were evident again when Gabriel used to be unleashed in the last half-hour. He castled Bess, targeting the stumps from wide on the crease, before Pope dragged on with England staring down the barrel, only 165 ahead with two wickets in hand. Mark Wood and Jofra Archer snuck England through to the near with a lead of 170, and will be tasked with spending time in the middle before making more of an affect than they managed in the first innings.