Jonny Bairstow’s eighth Test hundred was the anchor for England’s return from a disastrous start, hitting 268-6 in the stumps of the opening day of the first Test in Antigua on Tuesday.
Bairstow’s steady not-beaten score of 109 provided the base on which the visitors rallied from 48-4 when Captain Joe Root opted to bat first following the winning of the toss on a surface that is likely to become more sloppy as the game goes on.
One of only a handful of England players to earn any recognition from a disastrous Ashes campaign that ended in Australia only two months before the 32-year-old Yorkshireman demonstrated the determination that resulted in him scoring an unbeaten century in his first match at Sydney Cricket Ground.
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He was faced with more than 216 balls while playing 17 fours in more than five hours, which helped change the direction of the day’s action.
Bairstow was able to count on the support of Ben Stokes (36) in making 67 runs in the fifth innings to cause the opposition.
This was followed by an even more successful association with Ben Foakes (42), as 99 runs were added to the sixth wicket. Then the All-rounder Chris Woakes (24 not out) made sure the Englishmen made the most of a tired Caribbean team with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand at 54.
“We’ve spoken about partnerships and how invaluable they can be, not just up at the top but throughout the order, and it’s essential for us to continue that effort tomorrow,” said Bairstow, who was beaming at the close of the game.
“I think there’s plenty still in it (for the bowlers), so we have to continue to bat well again.”
Contrary to the first exchanges, when the West Indies seemed capable of performing flawlessly, the following two days were a win for the visitors as an additional 211 runs were added to the loss of only two wickets.
The appearance of the 2nd new ball during the closing half-hour of the day was not enough to dampen the determination that Bairstow had and Woakes as pacers. Kemar Roach Jayden Seales, and the ex-captain Jason Holder, who had scored two wickets earlier, were not a threat to the well-set pair.
Although Bairstow was concerned over the pitch, which was already developing signs of decline, Roach held a different viewpoint.
“We were tiring in that final session of the day and should have been tighter with our lines and lengths,” the captain admitted.
“We have to get the remaining wickets as quickly as possible and then go out there and respond strongly to give ourselves a first-innings lead. I think it is a perfect pitch to bat on.”
West Indies may be left to regret a missed opportunity by the typically secure Holder at the third slip when the diving attempt to his right of Woakes was smashed in the closing session.
Much to the disappointment of another unlucky speed bowler from the group, local Alzarri Joseph.
England’s weak top-order was exposed in the opening half-hour of the game when Root was dismissed, triggering the biggest cheers from the West Indian players.
He took the second wicket of Roach after the veteran seamer had snatched the debutant opening batsman Alex Lees via a leg-before decision in the third over.
Seales was able to take out the team’s opening batsman, Zak Crawley, in the next over by taking a fantastic dive catch made by Joshua da Silva as the wicketkeeper responded to a sharp edge from an attempt to force an off-side shot.
England seemed to be enjoying a little luck to their side after Jermaine Blackwood mishit root in the third slip off Roach, and the ball sped into the third man’s boundary.
But on the following delivery, the leading batsman chose not to shoot, and the ball was angled towards the right-hander and then moved just enough to touch the upper edge of the off-stump.
Stokes added Dan Lawrence, and the pair seemed to be doing well enough to last until Holder, in his five successive maiden runs early in the afternoon, forced Lawrence into the forward-prod position for Blackwood to the right the slips hand an ex-captain his debut wicket.
Seales finished an excellent inning from Stokes by delivering a full-length delivery in the afternoon session.
Holder was awarded an LBW decision in the match against Foakes following tea.
But by the time England’s revival was in full swing, Bairstow scored an undeserved hundred from the cricket of West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and displayed the type of determination that appeared to have disappeared from English cricket during a desperately Australian campaign.
