England vs West Indies- Windies Win opening test

A fascinating test match ended excitingly as the West Indies, fueled by Jermaine Blackwood’s 95, inflicted a four-wicket victory over England. Chasing 200 on a largely docile fifth day surface in Southampton, after England was eliminated by 313, the visitors overcame the first swings and belated drama to conclude a memorable chase.

Testing cricket’s performance in these tough times couldn’t have been more entertaining. Although the rhythms were loose for most of the match, the last four sessions exploded.

Blackwood was an unlikely hero, especially after the horrible shot he played to go out in the first innings. He came out identically in the second inning as well, but after effectively winning the match for his team.

It might well have been his last Test entry, but here he was delivering a splendid account of his skill with the baton, reliving a career that was long dismissed. Between October 2017 and July 2020, his only appearance came as a substitute for a concussion in the second inning of the Sabina Park Test against India last year. He made a 38 full of punches, played Jasprit Bumrah better than anyone on that tour, but only confirmed the selectors’ worst fears that his temperament in this format was still dubious.

The quality of his shot was seldom discussed: He was anointed by greater feats after a dreadful hundred against England in North Sound in 2015, but his temperament was often surprised by the tough routine of the Test cricket. An outstanding national season: 768 runs in 15 innings, including his first hundred (248) in this year’s national season, was required to mark his way back. Still, if Darren Bravo or Shimron Hetmyer hadn’t aborted the tour, he would have been heating up the banks.

Much of Blackwood’s technique remains the same, he remains a heavy player offside. He is a handsome player on the ground, unafraid of loft sailors, and loves to free his arms to anything with a pinch of width.

However, what has changed is your discretion. He doesn’t strike back as instinctively as he used to in the past; rather, he has added more judgment in his batting without abandoning his attack inclination. He expects the right ball to play the right shot. The end result was the perfect entry for the occasion. He could not have retired to a shell, he would have played in the hands of England. He couldn’t accelerate fully, because he would have accelerated the end. The fact that he has managed to combine patience with aggression attests to his maturation as a test cricket player.

Needless to say, he played some impressive shots, exuding a Caribbean joy of living. Most emphatic was a direct impulse, rather a thud, into James Anderson’s head.

The Jamaican simply cleared his front leg and swung his long, muscular hands into a long ball. Previously, the talisman of England was skillfully trimmed by a limit shortly after reaching its half-century.

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Similarly, England’s best bowler of the day, Jofra Archer endured the worst of his sword. He was expertly crushed down his legs, before hitting him back and putting cream to complete the 50-race partnership with Shane Dowrich. Then, to show his polish, Blackwood languidly covered Mark Wood, those malleable dolls again guided the ball through the gaps, compensating for his lack of reach.

At times he was lucky, but England was only to blame for his poor quality. Jos Buttler shed a routine lead from Stokes bowling. Rory Burns was unable to snag on a thick edge that flew through Stokes Ravine, the England captain himself went in the wrong direction toward a slipped edge, and Zak Crawley was unable to affect the simplest of exits. Several times Blackwood played and lost and survived lbw’s yelling and criticism. But unflappable, he continued.

He was involved in two vital associations, first with the 73-run association that was resurrected in the chase with Roston Chase, who battled valiantly before facing a brute who jumped a good length. And then with a 68-run partnership with the rude Shane Dowrich. The reversal came after the visitors had plummeted to 3/27 and with John Campbell retired injured after Archer’s yorker broke his toes. In those frantic opening exchanges, Archer led the hitters, some of whom were seniors in Barbados.

Criticized for his reluctant bow in the first innings, he accelerated by leaps and bounds, hit a threatening length, fractionally closed the ball in both directions, and put England off to an excellent start. At one stage, the West Indies staggered to 7/2, before Mark Woods consumed Shai Hope and another Caribbean family implosion loomed. Woods tried to force a late turn, firing Dowrich, and then Blackwood also left, but Jason Holder calmly carried them on his big shoulders to the finish line. As it has often done in recent years.

Brief scores: England 204 and 313 (Z Crawley 76; S Gabriel 5/75) lost to the West Indies 318 and 200/6 (J Blackwood 95, R Chase 37; J Archer 3/45, B Stokes 2/39) by 4 wickets.