England finished day four with a 170-run lead over the West Indies, as Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley managed half a century in the second inning of the first Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Saturday.
Crawley went into the fold with England 113-2 and followed the visitors for a run, and stitched up a major 98-run partnership with Captain Ben Stokes.
Stokes hit six limits on his 79-ball 46 before being fired a second time in the match by West Indies captain Jason Holder, cutting a short ball directly to Shai Hope in the ravine.
Crawley, 22, missed his first century of testing as he was fired by 76 after his attempt to remove the pads flew directly to Alzarri Joseph, who took a good catch on his follow-up.
Jos Buttler was fortunate after a previous decision to Holder was reversed at the review, but he left the next, with his stumps shipped by Joseph.
Shannon Gabriel fired Dom Bess and Ollie Pope in quick succession to leave England reeling before Jofra Archer and Mark Wood saw them stumps at 284-8.
STABLE START
Earlier in the day, resuming England’s second inning at 15-0, Sibley and Rory Burns saw a test bang from Gabriel and Kemar Roach before catching up.
Burns started 42 shortly before lunch, cutting a short-pitch delivery from spinner Roston Chase directly to John Campbell at the setback point.
Sibley’s innings seemed to have come to an end shortly after he had taken out his half-century when he was dragging a small delivery from Gabriel to his stumps, but the replays showed that the West Indies pacemaker had been outpaced, giving the England starter a lifebuoy.
However, Sibley was unable to capitalize as he was fired by 50 at the same time, beating a stray leg-side delivery to goalkeeper Shane Dowrich.
Joe Denly fought hard for his 29 before breaking a harmless delivery from Chase directly to Holder midfield.
The West Indies had taken a dominating 114-run lead in the first innings after posting 318 in response to England’s 204.
The test is the first international cricket match after a 117-day absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three-game series is played without fans in a “bio-safe environment” with daily health checks, referees at home, and a ban on glowing the ball.
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